Choi Eun-sook, a 34-year-old working woman, gave birth to her first child just three months ago. Choi said she could not get pregnant until about three years into her marriage.
"I got married at the age of 29, so it was inevitable that I would bear my first child in my 30s," the working mom told The Korea Herald. "My circumstances were that I couldn't get pregnant right away." Choi's case underscores the shifting trend throughout the past two decades of women in Korea having their first child in their 30s rather than their 20s.
Twenty years ago, an average of more than 300,000 babies were born to women in their early 20s in a single year. But the latest comparable figure tallied for 2009 has fallen dramatically to 20,000 according to the preliminary data released yesterday by Statistics Korea.
As the average childbearing age has gotten older, babies born by women in their 30s make up 60 percent of the total number of births in Asia's fourth-largest economy.
The rising childbearing age also comes as Korea suffers from a chronic problem of low birth rate and an aging population. The government has been introducing various subsidy programs as incentives to encourage childbirth, but the latest data show that the measures still have yet to make an impact.
Experts blame the growing population of single independent women and the country's weak social safety net for the declining birthrate.
"Many economically active women, especially female entrepreneurs struggling to build their business or keep it afloat, tend to be preoccupied with their work in these tough competitive times," said Park Young-joon, head of the management department of the Korean Women Entrepreneurs Association. "It just seems inevitable that having children would be the lowest of their priorities."
Park Che-khun, head of the labor-management department of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stressed the potential of many socio-economic problems stemming from a low birth rate.
"There are many problems to take account of, such as labor productivity, drop in operational efficiency for a company, aging workers, a shortfall in the talent pool, and a decline in overall consumption," Park said. "Basically, less people means a threat to our country's economic competitiveness."
Last year, females aged between 20 and 24 totaled 24,400, down 13 percent from the 28,173 recorded the previous year.
In 1981, which was when the government began compiling such data, women in their early 20s gave birth to 335,331 babies.
Even the overall number of births has plunged throughout the decades. In 1981, Korea recorded a total of 867,409 births. But last year, the total fell nearly by half to 445,200.
The statistics reflect a society
The data showed that the average childbearing age last year hit 29.84, up by 0.24 compared to the previous year. In 1981, the average age was 24.1 years.
Observers predict that the average childbearing age will soon hit 30.
Despite the government's efforts to offer childbearing subsidy programs, Choi believes they are not enough. The working mom, who is now pregnant with her second child, said she will be entitled to receive 300,000 won a month in government subsidies.
"I live in the Seongnam area of Bundang, and the subsidies are different for each administrative local government, but I don't think 300,000 won will be enough to address all socio-economic problems that are putting couples off from having more than one child," Choi explained. "I'm one of the luckier cases, because I have my mother-in-law to take care of my children, so I can continue working and bring in additional income."
Park strongly suggested that the government should not put the burden on companies to promote a childbearing environment.
"The government should improve the whole social environment and not depend highly on companies to create a childbearing-friendly workplace, because this could rather encourage employers to hire less female employees," the industry expert said.