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South Korea has been identified as the country where the cost of raising a child, relative to per capita income, is the highest in the world.
Following South Korea, China ranks second and Italy third. Particularly noteworthy is that in South Korea, raising one child costs approximately 335 million won (USD 243,000).
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According to CNN, in February of this year, the YuWa Population Research Institute in Beijing analyzed child-rearing costs by country. The report revealed that the cost of raising a child to the age of 18 in South Korea is 7.79 times the per capita gross domestic product (GDP), the highest ratio in the world.
Based on South Korea’s 2022 per capita GDP of $32,400, raising a child is estimated at $243,000. Compared to other countries worldwide, South Korea faces high education costs, which place a significant financial burden on parents.
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According to a survey conducted last year by public opinion research firm Monoresearch, 78.8% of respondents felt burdened by the cost of private education for their children. The survey was conducted nationwide among 1,000 men and women over 18.
Nearly half (43.2%) said they felt very burdened. Only a small minority (6.5%) said private education costs did not burden them. The survey also revealed that the average proportion of education costs in household expenses was 21.4%, meaning parents spend about a fifth of their income on their children’s education.
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According to the report, 32.3% of respondents spent 20-30% of their household expenses on education, with 8.8% spending over 40%. Shockingly, 44.4% of respondents have taken out loans due to excessive education costs. This shows parents even resort to loans to finance their children’s education.
According to the Ministry of Education, the Korea Educational Development Institute, and the office of Rep. Seo Dong Yong of the Democratic Party, the per-student private education expenditure in South Korea in 2019 was $1,454, ranking sixth among the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This is significantly higher than the OECD average of $929 per student.
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Meanwhile, the Yuwa Population Research Institute pointed out that China spends a lot of money on child-rearing. According to their report, raising a child in China costs $74,800, 6.3 times the GDP. If a child pursues a university education, the cost increases to $94,500.
Italy also recorded a high level at 6.28 times the GDP. The United Kingdom (5.25 times) and New Zealand (4.55 times) were also in the top five, followed by Japan (4.26 times), the United States (4.11 times), and Germany (3.64 times), all of which have high child-rearing costs relative to income.
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