When Nam Hyun-jin had her first child, South Korea was a different place than now, and in her words, less encouraging for having a child.

But certain factors have changed in the past five years, as South Korea now faces the lowest birth rate in the world. Last year, her employer, construction firm Booyoung Group, started handing out "childbirth bonuses" worth 100 million won ($70,000) to employees. After Nam gave birth to her second child in August last year, she too, received her bonus.

"My company's culture, which encourages having more children, provides a huge help," said 35-year-old Nam, cuddling with her five-month-old daughter at their home in Seoul.

The bonus scheme showed the company’s commitment to a family-friendly culture, Nam said, convincing her that a child would not be an obstacle to her career.

As a result, according to Booyoung’s HR director, Kim Jin-seong, employee loyalty to the company has “increased tremendously”.

  “The very fact that this loyalty has risen appears to be an opportunity for individuals to be more dedicated to the company’s work, which will naturally boost work efficiency," Kim told Reuters.

   Last year, Booyoung saw a surge in childbirth as well as job applications, after the construction firm announced the bonus scheme, in a belief that it would help raise employee morale and work efficiency.

   Booyoung's move was later followed by more incentives from the government, such as tax exemption on childbirth bonuses, and similar efforts by other companies.

  According to government data, South Korea’s birth rate, the lowest in the world, rose in 2024 for the first time in nine years, as more couples tied the knot after pandemic delays and more companies joined efforts to do their part to tackle the issue.

   The country's fertility rate rose to 0.75 in 2024 from 0.72 in 2023, after eight consecutive years of declines from 1.24 in 2015, mostly on a rise in marriages that had been disrupted during the pandemic.

Quarterly data showed the number of newborns who were a second child, such as Nam's, jumped 12% in the second half of 2024, slightly faster than the 11% rise in first-born babies.

   In 2024, marriages rose even more sharply, after climbing in 2023 for the first time in 12 years on a post-pandemic boost. In last year's government survey, 52.5% of South Koreans expressed positive views about marriage, up from 50.1% in 2022 and the highest since 2014.

   In neighbouring China, new births also rose in 2024 after delays in marriages during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they are expected to fall again in 2025 despite its own policy efforts.

South Korea now aims to raise its fertility rate to 1 births per woman by 2030, closer to, but still far from, the average of 1.89 children South Koreans ideally wanted in the government survey.

Last year, the country rolled out various measures to encourage young people to get married and have children, after now-impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol declared a "national demographic crisis" and a plan to create a new ministry devoted to tackling low birth rates.

Interviews conducted by Reuters in February 2025 with policymakers, industry experts, economists and Korean mothers credited the government's policy support - in the three areas of work-family balance, childcare and housing - and a campaign to encourage business to incentivise employees on parenthood for the positive turn.

   While South Korea's policy drive is working at least for some families who were already thinking about having a baby but postponing, there still remain many who feel left out or discouraged, especially among younger generation.

“We need to spend a lot of money to have a baby or get married,” said Kim Ha-ram, a 21-year-old student.

There are also concerns about getting a job, because “companies will consider situations where mothers may need to take leave at short notice to check on their kids”, 36-year-old housewife Kang Bo-young said.

  “There’s still a prevailing belief that mothers are primarily responsible for childcare,” she added.

In South Korea, the last baby boom was in 1991-1996, locally known as an "echo boom". People who were born during that period are now between their late 20s and mid-30s, when most get married and have their first child.

According to Jung Jae-hoon, a professor of social welfare at Seoul Women's University, South Korean society must endure a "paradigm shift" in order for there to be adequate results.

"There has to be a paradigm shift, towards more democratic, gender-equal family structures, by establishing society-wide childcare systems and family-friendly corporate management," said Jung.

Last year, among South Koreans who took parental leave, men accounted for 32%, up from 28% in 2023 and 6% in 2015, according to the labour ministry.

From this year, the government is obligating listed companies to include their childcare-related statistics in regulatory filings, with incentives for government projects and financial support for small and medium-sized firms.

(Production: Dogyun Kim, Daewoung Kim, Yeonbin Park, Hyunyoung Yi)