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South Korea’s fertility rate sinks to record low despite $270bn in incentives
韓國2023年生育率創新低
South Korea’s demographic crisis has deepened with the release of data showing its birthrate – already the world’s lowest – fell to a new record low in 2023, despite billions of dollars in government schemes designed to persuade families to have more children.
數據顯示，韓國的人口危機進一步加深，盡管韓國政府制定方案投入數十億美元鼓勵家庭多生孩子，韓國生育率（全球最低）2023年仍跌至歷史新低。
Reports that South Korea’s population had shrunk for the fourth straight year came soon after neighbouring Japan reported a record decline in its population last year, along with a record fall in the number of births and the lowest number of marriages since the end of the second world war.
據報道，韓國人口連續第四年減少，此前不久，鄰國日本報告稱該國去年人口降幅創歷史紀錄、出生人數降幅創紀錄、結婚人數則降至二戰結束以來的最低水平。
The average number of children a South Korean woman has during her lifetime fell to 0.72, from 0.78 in 2022 – a decline of nearly 8% – according to preliminary data from Statistics Korea, a government-affiliated body. The rate is well below the average of 2.1 children the country needs to maintain its current population of 51 million.
韓國政府下屬機構韓國統計廳的初步數據顯示，韓國女性一生中的平均子女數量從2022年的0.78個下降到0.72個，下降了近8%。這一比率遠低于該國維持現有5100萬人口所需的2.1名兒童的平均水平。
Since 2018, South Korea has been the only member of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) to have a rate below 1. In addition, South Korean women give birth for the first time at the average age of 33.6 – the highest among OECD members.
自2018年以來，韓國是經濟合作與發展組織（OECD）中唯一一個生育率低于1的成員國。此外，韓國女性首次分娩的平均年齡為33.6歲，在OECD成員國中最高。
If the low fertility rate persists, the population of Asia’s fifth-biggest economy is projected to almost halve to 26.8 million by 2100, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle.
根據西雅圖華盛頓大學健康指標與評估研究所的數據，如果低生育率持續下去，這個亞洲第五大經濟體的人口預計到2100年將幾乎減半，只剩下2680萬。
Lim Young-il, head of the population census division at Statistics Korea, told reporters: “The number of newborns in 2023 was 230,000, which was 19,200 fewer than the year before, representing a 7.7% decrease.”
韓國統計廳人口普查處處長林英一(音譯)告訴記者：“2023年韓國新生兒人數為23萬，比前一年減少了19200人，下降7.7%。”
Since 2006 the government has invested more than 360tn won ($270bn) in programmes to encourage couples to have more children, including cash subsidies, babysitting services and support for infertility treatment.
自2006年以來，政府已在鼓勵夫婦生育的項目上投資超過360萬億韓元（約合人民幣19404億元），包括現金補貼、保姆服務和不孕不育治療支持。
South Korea’s major political parties are showcasing policies to stem population decline ahead of April’s national assembly election, including more public housing and easier loans, in the hope of dampening growing alarm that the country is facing “national extinction”.
韓國各主要政黨在4月國會選舉前提出了遏制人口下降的政策，包括提供更多公共住房和更便捷的貸款，希望以此緩解人們對韓國正面臨"民族滅絕"的日益恐慌。
英文來源：衛報
編輯：董靜
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