earticle

영어

The low birth rate in Korea reflects the declining desire to have children in this country due to rising emphasis on personal lifestyle. Since this phenomenon has accelerated, boosting the birth rate has become one of the most important policy tasks in Korea. The purpose of this research was to perform a case study based on women's lived experience to understand how the childbirth encouragement policy promoted by the government in order to boost the birth rate has affected the perception of childbirth among women. The findings are as follows : First, the effect of the childbirth encouragement policy on women’s perceptions has been fairly low. Second, the social environment for encouraging childbirth is inadequate. Third, the economic burdens associated with childbirth and child care are still significant. Finally, the impact of the childbirth encouragement policy on changes in the perceptions of childbirth has been minimal. Based on these findings, various motivations for changes in the perceptions of childbirth among women were identified, leading to the following conclusion: Establishing a long-term childbirth encouragement policy is an effective way to boost the childbirth rate.