Average age that South Korean women have their first baby at rises to 33

Article: What age do Korean women have their first baby at? Even the OECD is surprised

Source: Everyday Economy via Naver

S. Korea 1993: 26 years old
S. Korea 2021: 33 years old
Japan: 30 years old
US: 27 years old
UK: 29 years old
Norway: 29 years old

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1. [+352, -66] We're a country that only ever has babies after getting married.. and it seems to be the trend lately to get married after your thirties

2. [+219, -2] I see a lot more puppies than babies these days

3. [+182, -59] With the rising costs of apartments and baby supplies, who would want to sacrifice themselves to get married and have kids? Much easier to just adopt a puppy and play house on your own. The Korean pet market makes billions a year, and I see a lot more marriage-aged women raising puppies than babies around me~~

4. [+90, -9] Let's all just choose not to have babies so we can spiral to extinction together

5. [+55, -2] And it's just further proof that our society has made it more difficult for women to have kids and still contribute to society

6. [+55, -3] Having babies completely changes your life, why would anyone want to do that? The extraordinary costs of child care, difficulty of employment... no freedom. If you were a housewife before, you're basically a maid now.. and if you were working before, you're now forced to battle your co-workers for time off if your kid ever gets sick. On top of that, pressure from your in-laws... Much easier to just work my career, take vacations, and raise a pet on my own ㅠㅠ

7. [+50, -7] Back in the old days, it was normal for most ajummas to be done with child rearing by their forties and enjoy their time pursuing hobbies and such... but nowadays, who would be crazy enough to waste their twenties going through pregnancy, birth, and child rearing? You'd be foolish to ever want to waste your life like that.

8. [+36, -1] I'm just going to live a lone. I was born to a dirt spoon.. and never got to pursue the education I wanted because of money, and I was forced to give up my dreams to live without hope only to end up with a job to support my single mother. I barely make enough to keep some food on the table. Under these conditions, I know that marriage is not a possibility for me. Even if I were to have a kid now, I don't know that I could raise it properly. I don't want to pass down my suffering to the next generation. My end may be lonely but I don't want to harm any more people on my way out.

9. [+31, -0] I don't want to give birth to another slave

10. [+25, -2] Past or present, the woman is still forced to sacrifice more to raise a child in this world

11. [+21, -2] It's just not viable... we can't expect women to do both work and child rearing at the same time...

12. [+19, -1] The generation these days don't want kids no matter how much you try to convince them. They are thinking with their brains because they're born from a generation of parents who weren't fit to have kids but squirted them out without any sense of responsibility because it was just the thing to do. The newer generation prefers a mroe individualistic life. 

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