North Korea Leader, Kim Jong-un Urges Women To Have More Children To Halt A Fall In Birthrate

 North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un has called on women in the country to halt a fall in the nations births to be able to strengthen national power.

The North Korean government is stepping up the call for the people to have more children.

 South Korea’s government says the North’s fertility rate has declined steadily for the past 10 years,a concerning development for a country that depends on mobilized labor to help keep its broken, heavily sanctioned economy afloat.

During the country’s National Mothers Meeting on Sunday, the first of its kind in 11 years, Kim Jong Un appealed to women to have more children.

“Stopping the decline in birthrates and providing good child care and education are all our family affairs that we should solve together with our mothers,” Kim said in his opening speech.

The South Korea’s government statistics agency says North Korea’s total fertility rate, or the average number of babies expected to be born to a woman over her lifetime, was at 1.79 in 2022, down from 1.88 in 2014. 

The decline is still slower than that of South Korea, whose fertility rate last year was 0.78, down from 1.20 in 2014.

South Korea’s fertility rate is ranked the lowest in the developed world, with a decaying job market, a brutally competitive school environment for children, traditionally weak child care assistance and a male-centered corporate culture where many women find it impossible to combine careers and family reasons for the decline.

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Observers say the change in North Korea's demographic structure is similar to that of rich countries, despite being one of the poorest countries in the world.

“Many families in North Korea also don’t intend to have more than one child these days as they know they need lots of money to raise their kids, send them to school and help them get jobs,” said Ahn Kyung-su, head of DPRKHEALTH.ORG, a website focusing on health issues in North Korea.