|
The total fertility rate (TFR) of South Korea was 2.82 in 1980 and, since then it had decreased continuously. It worsened after experiencing the financial crisis in 1997. As a result, TFR recorded 1.076, the lowest level among OECD countries, in 2005. Moreover, the fast decline of TFR makes it hard to find a suitable solution to raise TFR. So the central and local governments established various childbirth encouragement policies, but they have not showed satisfying results. Therefore, to find more fundamental factors which affect TFR, this study analyzes ‘necessity of having children.’ The data used is 297 married women in Cheongdo-gun, which has the lowest TFR compared with other rural areas, and the data is classified as the employed and the non-employed. The results show that the owner of house (+), amount of assets (+), and household income (-) have statistically significant effect on the necessity of having children in the employed, but only household income (-) is so in the non-employed. |
