There are so many cultural factors in SK that might take generations to reverse without being "forced" by the government (which is also wary to enforce). Of course, by then its too late per the video.
I always pondered if child baring should be done as a generational leap.
As in how would society look like if people have kids in their 20’s with the grandparents who are in their 40’s being the primary caretakers and rinse and repeat.
Seems that this combines the best outcomes in terms of biology and still being able pursue educational and career goals.
But this is a very major shift from where we are today. It’s going to be far more likely that more and more people will start having children in their late 30’s and even 40’s and 50’s. If we are going that way then freezing sprem and eggs at a young age should be much cheaper than it is now and people should really start considering it.
I see no crisis, only total fertility rates reaching a neutral rate based on women empowered to make the best choice for themselves.
https://www.axios.com/2024/07/25/adults-no-children-why-pew-...
https://www.dw.com/en/why-south-korean-women-arent-having-ba...
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240918-chile-birth-r...
I actually wonder why this isn’t a bigger talking point, we are probably not at the point of no return yet but many countries are getting there and people will be caught by surprise as whilst the effect is delayed human life expectancy isn’t that long and it doesn’t take more than a couple of generations like ours until we are going to be facing a major crisis.
I really don’t know where we went wrong, and I’m not sure it’s purely financial either (tho it is for many), at least from my anecdotal experience.
Where we went wrong? Women not being empowered in the first place. This is the fix, not a problem. This is a success story.
Even if you don’t see shrinking population as a massive problem which it will be, if the TFR remains below ~2.1 humanity won’t be here for much longer.
I’m also not sure how much empowerment anyone will have once we are forced back to living as agrarian subsistence farmers within a few generations.
So I don’t know if you are trolling at this point or not…
The problem is welly explained in the video: the society in East Asia (South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, etc.) is too toxic for the youth and it is too hard for them to live a decent life.
Young people there are constantly competing with others of their generation. Households are unaffordable for the majority of the population, and for the lucky ones, it takes approximately 30 to 50 years to buy one. Traditional culture encourages people to work extremely hard, to the extent that they don't even have time for social activities or to form relationships. Meanwhile, promotion is often difficult because management-level positions are occupied by older individuals.
People are stopping having children not only because they cannot afford it, both financially and in terms of time, but also because they do not want their children to suffer. It is expected that the situation will persist for generations to come.