Land full of blessings

Land full of blessings

 

[시사타임즈 = 이철원 시사타임즈 회장] In Korea these days, it is difficult to find young children in rural areas or small and medium-sized cities due to the continuous decline in the fertility rate. According to data analyzed by the US CIA, Korea's fertility rate ranks 220th out of 224 countries around the world, almost the last. Since there are only four countries with a lower fertility rate than Korea, Singapore, Macau, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, considering the size and population of the country, in fact, Taiwan is the only country with a lower fertility rate than Korea.

 

While the fertility rate, which raises the proportion of the young population, is gradually decreasing, the average lifespan is gradually increasing, and the aging rate is rapidly increasing. Even now, more than 12% of the population over 65 years of age has entered an aging society. At this rate, it is said that by 2030, we will enter a super-aging society, with the elderly population approaching 25%. As a result of this decrease in the fertility rate, the working-age population gradually decreases, and the elderly population who must be supported is rapidly increasing. Due to this, the vitality of the country and industry is declining, and our military is also directly affected by the decrease in the fertility rate.

 

Due to the decrease in the fertility rate, the proportion of active duty judges who were only 51% in the 1980s is now over 92%. If all young people in the Republic of Korea are not handicapped enough to do military service, most of them will enlist as active duty soldiers. That is why some point to the deterioration of the quality of military resources as the structural cause of the recent GOP massacre or brutal assault and death that has shocked the public.

 

From this point of view, the Philippines is a blessed country, which is struggling because of its high fertility rate, which is the opposite of us. According to local media reports, as of July 2014, the population of the Philippines has exceeded 100 million, and among them, young people under the age of 24 account for more than 50% of the population. While Korea is concerned about a decrease in the working-age population, the Philippines has a problem because it cannot solve all of its overflowing young labor force domestically. Leyte province is overflowing with children wherever they go in the countryside. Many of the schools we restored were divided into morning and afternoon classes because it was difficult to accommodate all these students. In terms of human resources, the Philippines can be said to have unlimited potential and growth engines.

 

▲elementary school under restoration (c)시사타임즈

Whenever I go to the field, I often say, 'Like my childhood, the baby boomer generation, I can often meet families with at least 5 or 6 children in one household. In particular, there are many pregnant women, so if I exaggerate a little, about half of the young women I met in the village were pregnant. One of the reasons why the Philippines has such a high fertility rate is that marriage is fast. As Korean women reach their 30s for first marriage and their 30s for first childbirth, the age at which they can have children for the rest of their lives is getting shorter and shorter.

 

Even this is worrying as the age of first marriage is getting delayed. On the other hand, women here usually get married between the ages of 18 and 22 after graduating from high school, and have many children because the first childbirth is early. Also, due to Catholic influence, pregnancy is considered a blessing from God and contraception and abortion are sinful, so the fertility rate is high. In particular, the Visayas Islands, our area of ​​operation, traditionally produce a lot of children, because they are not responsible for their children's economic problems, but because they think they are future contributors to help the householder's income when they grow up.

 

▲Children eating free meals for the ARAW (c)시사타임즈

The last reason, I think, is that the climate has a big impact. Because there is no winter, it is not only humans that get pregnant well here, but other animals also get pregnant very well. Wherever you go, you can see pregnant and lactating dogs, goats and pigs. When I built the ARAW farm to purify the emotions of the soldiers, I bought a pair of goats, but shortly after raising them, the female gave birth to a young.

 

These days, the fact that most of the children can be seen in rural areas in Korea is thanks to women who emigrated by marriage from abroad, which is helping to alleviate our problems with the low fertility rate to some extent. At a time when their children are enlisting in the military and serving in the military, I think the Republic of Korea will grow bigger when they have the tolerance to see married immigrant women and their children as Koreans without discrimination.

 

글 : 이철원 시사타임즈 회장

 

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