“North Korea’s Declining Birth Rate and Aging Population: Concerns and Policies”

Jakarta –

South Korea is currently facing a declining birth rate due to the high cost of raising children. On the same fate, North Korea also experienced a similar problem. But for different reasons, the decline in the birth rate in North Korea was triggered by hunger and ongoing economic difficulties.

Referring to the report titled “State of World Population 2022,” published by the United Nations Population Fund, the fertility rate or the average number of children born to a woman in her lifetime in North Korea is 1.9 in 2022. This figure is still below the level replacement of 2.1, so the population stabilizes at under 26 million.

North Korea experienced a gradual decline in birth rates following a famine in the mid and late 1990s. In that year, around 2 million people reportedly died of hunger.

Plus, declining fertility rates lead to an aging population. The number of North Koreans aged 65 and over accounted for 9.75 percent in 2022, up 0.1 percentage point from the previous year, according to US Central Intelligence Agency data.

This figure makes North Korea an ‘elderly society’, with the percentage of the population aged over 65 years above 7 percent.

Low birth rates and a rapidly aging population have become a concern of the North Korean regime. This is because the reduction in the number of workers can have a negative impact on the country’s labor-intensive industries.

According to North Korea’s propaganda website DPRK Today, the country has introduced various policies to encourage more births, focusing on cash handouts and affirmative action.

For one thing, mothers of three or more children are entitled to priority in receiving medical care at local hospitals, as well as government subsidies until their youngest child graduates high school at the age of 17.

They are also allowed to ‘freely’ request parental leave if their child is aged 17 or under.

In addition, according to the UN Interagency Group on Child Mortality Estimation, the mortality rate of children under 5 years in North Korea is expected to be 15.4 per 1,000 births in 2021.

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(vyp/kna)