Seoul to lower bar for multi-child family subsidies to raise birth rate

The Seoul Metropolitan Government will change the definition of multi-child families from those with three or more kids younger than 13 to households with at least two children aged 18 or below so that they can be eligible for parenting subsidies.

The city government said on Tuesday it would expand the benefits such as free or discounted admissions to amusement parks and public facilities in Seoul to families with two or more children.

To qualify for the benefits, their youngest kid must be 18 years old or below.

The move is aimed at easing the financial and housing burden on families with kids and to encourage childbearing. South Korea’s fertility rate plummeted to its historic low of 0.78 in 2022, the world's lowest.

In Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, the birth rate is even lower than the average, standing at 0.59 in 2022.

Multi-child families also will be allowed to use public parking lots and sports classes run by the city government at half price.

For their teenage kids, Seoul will subsidize their private schooling and public transport from July to alleviate education spending.

For second and third babies aged two or below, free insurance policies will be offered.

Multi-child families in Seoul will be given more opportunities to apply for long-term leases on public housing, alongside subsidies for nursery products and discounts for entertainment activities until their children come of age.

The latest scheme comes after the city government introduced subsidies for fertility treatment and postnatal care in previous years.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said in a statement that multi-children parents are the heroes of this era and the municipal government will make policy efforts to reduce their economic burden.

Among the babies born in 2022, some 62.7% were first children, up 11.2 percentage points from 51.5% in 2012.

In Seoul, 434,184 households have two or more children under the age of 18.

Seoul plans the revised family support measures to take effect from the second half of this year, after the relevant ordinance is amended.

Write to Hae-Ryon Choi at haeryon@hankyung.com

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.