Signal Korean fertility fell below 1.0 in 2018 after a steeper and more coercive decline than Japan's

Summary

Korea and Japan combine the world's longest life expectancy with its lowest fertility. In Japan, fertility kept high by wartime pronatalism and the postwar baby boom fell quickly after the war, dropping below the replacement level of 2.2 in 1960 while staying above 1.2 through 2020. Korea's total fertility rate still exceeded 6 in 1960, when its modernization began, and then declined without pause. Japan introduced birth control out of concern about overpopulation, yet births fell relatively voluntarily, whereas in Korea international advice and government encouragement suppressed births semi-coercively under a family planning program. Korea fell below replacement only in 1983, hovered around 1.2 through the 2000s and dropped below 1.0 in 2018, falling repeatedly since.