Even wartime Israel shows concern over S. Korea’s low birth rate

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke at Tel Aviv University on June 25. He highlighted Israel's strong economic and social resilience, even amid conflict with Hamas, which he attributed to the country's high birth rate of 3.0. Bennett contrasted this with South Korea’s significantly lower birth rate.

Public figures such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk and American feminist legal scholar Joan Williams have also discussed the implications of low birth rates. The severity of South Korea’s situation was underscored in Tel Aviv, far from Seoul. If Bennett knew South Korea's birth rate in the fourth quarter of 2023 was just 0.65, he might emphasize it more in future speeches.

During my visit to Israel from June 23 to 27, many Israelis, including the general public, politicians, and businesspeople, proudly shared the number of their children and grandchildren. “I have four children and 15 grandchildren, eight from my first son,” said Jonathan Medved, CEO of OurCrowd, which secures investments from Hana Bank and NH Nonghyup Bank for IT startups.

Israel’s high fertility rate is partly due to its ongoing state of conflict, surrounded by Arab nations, and its historical experience of re-establishing a nation after 2,000 years. The existential fear of losing their country has fostered a societal emphasis on childbirth and raising children.

However, Israel's high birth rate is largely driven by the Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox Jews, whose average birth rate is 6.6, compared to 2.5 among other Jews. When I visited the Western Wall, a Jewish holy site in Jerusalem, I saw many Haredi women with long sideburns, black clothes, and hats, accompanied by their Haredi husbands and seven or eight children.

The Haredi population grew from 750,000 in 2009 to 1.28 million in 2022, making up 13.5% of Israel's 9.45 million people. This percentage is expected to rise to 19% by 2035.

While improving housing prices, private education costs, jobs, and childcare are common suggestions for increasing birth rates, these policies mainly benefit the white-collar class. Even in Nordic countries with better parenting environments and lower costs than South Korea, fertility rates are declining. Finland's fertility rate dropped from 1.75 in 2013 to a record low of 1.26 last year.

This trend shows that welfare expansion alone does not significantly boost population growth. Instead of treating population decline as an "emergency," it is more practical to find ways to mitigate its impacts.