South Korea - Demographic Dividend

• South Korea’s success was the result of addressing population issues while also investing in reproductive health programs, education, and economic policies to create infrastructure and manufacturing.
• Field workers visited homes and provided family planning information and methods.
• People saw that having fewer children improved family life.
• Between 1950 and 1975, fertility dropped from 5.4 children per woman to 2.9.
• By 2005, fertility had dropped to 1.2 children per woman.
• The government also focused on education.
• In the 1950s South Korea’s economy, based largely on farming and fishing, was weak.
• Improved relationships with Japan led to investment capital that strengthened agricultural fishing and manufacturing industries.
• The South Korean government also addressed unemployment through a rural construction programme that provided minimum wages for workers involved in the construction of infrastructure.