Basic Report

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the designing and delivery system of the fertility policy and to improve its effectiveness of the policy. The problem of low fertility rate in Korea is is so serious that it leaves no room for reconsideration. Under such circumstances, the government has come under fire for its seemingly failed pronatalist policy. It might be too early to determine it as a failure. Yet, it still has certain aspects considered hard to be effective. It is therefore, necessary to asses the overall policy and come up with alternatives.

Since the fertility policy which is the subject of this study is made up of numerous projects, it is neither possible nor desirable to evaluate every single one of them and draw up its solution. Therefore, we have sorted out the design and delivery system of the fertility policy by type, analyzed their current situation and problems, and developed improvement plans.

In this study, various quantitative and qualitative research methods have been applied and various data have been used. We have adopted statistical analysis on provincial policies and the organization in charge, interview with central and local personnel, survey data analysis, overseas case study and so forth.

We have evaluated the design of fertility policy first and then assessed its delivery system. The results of each study are summarized in the following table.

<Table 1> Summary of this study

Categories		Current Status and Problems	Improvement Measures
Policy Design	Common policy area	✓There are about 170 projects to enhance the fertility rate ✓Most are post-natal policies such as support for pregnancy, childbirth, etc. ✓Lack of support for people who are sure of childbirth ✓Absence of policy that directly affects couple's decision on childbirth in premarital stages.	✓Rearrange similar duplication projects ✓Expand support for people who are sure to have a baby(eg,, expanding support for infertility treatment) ✓Expand policies that directly affects couple's decision on childbirth in premarital stages.(eg, Establishment of public egg banks)
	Local self-policy sector	✓There are many policies but most of them are repetitive. ✓Lack of local customized policy design	✓Redefine the role of the state and local governments ✓Provide local information platform for fertility policies
Delivery System	Common policy delivery system	✓Eight types according to service delivery ✓Internal capacity gap between municipalities ✓Duplicated projects produce unnecessary installation costs in execution.	✓Strengthen the integration of organization and function of national fertility policy ✓Design an incentive structure to revitalize projects to boost fertility rates in local governments.
	Local governments organization for fertility policy	✓Most municipalities do not have a fertility policy agency ✓Lack of fertility policy expertise ✓Beneficiaries are hard to access related service.	✓Design an organization under direct control of mayor to strengthen fertility plans ✓Diversify methods to use local resources ✓Consider cost savings through conversion to a voucher for expense reimbursement