South Korea abolishes itself

I've written before on South Korea but it's endlessly fascinating to watch a society that's in a death spiral get worse each year. South Korea had 6% fewer births in Q1 2023 than in Q1 2022...which itself was a record low year of births. In fact, every year since 2016 has had record low births after decades of steady decline. Their estimated Total Fertility Rate for the year is 0.74.

As a result, their population pyramid looked like this in 2021 and it's only gotten worse. Note how there are over 4x as many people in their 50s, who will be leaving the workforce in the next few decades, than there are infants to replace them. 0.74 is unfathomably bad. If that didn't change, the population structure would look like this:

Generation 1: 100 

Generation 2: 37

Generation 3: 14

I just don't know what's going to happen to the young people who remain. Many are assuming they'll just be tax cows/slaves to the elderly majority, but I'm not so sure. Like all government, at the end of the day the mandates of a democratic government come at the point of a sword. If you try to make serfs out of the only people in your society who are still capable of violence I don't think it'll work out too well for you.

It's very sad to see this happen to a people as accomplished and capable as South Koreans, but hopefully what happens to them serves as a lesson to other peoples. I've read interviews with young South Koreans and it seems like they almost universally think of their childhood as something they don't want repeated, and I can't say I blame them. Going to a hypercompetitive school all day, then going to some cram school afterwards for five hours every day, never seeing your dad who work in his office helljob until 11 PM every night...I wouldn't want to live that way either, or bring another soul into this world for that sort of life. On top of this all of the prestigious jobs are in a single metro area which I've been led to understand is almost as expensive as southern California when compared to incomes. 

But at the end of the day it's an entire country and the survivors will inherit it. What will be left I have no idea. What I do know is that if you're fortunate enough to live in the US or Western Europe there's basically infinite upside to having kids as the world is about to get way more weird and open. Your countries getting flooded with immigrants isn't ideal, but I would take being born in the USA or even somewhere like the UK in 2023 100 times out of 100 over South Korea. If you dislike the system it will be increasingly easy to just opt out. Perhaps our children 25 years from now can make a living doing odd jobs a few months a year for the masses of aging and college educated South Korean cog people living in high rises and spend the rest of their time four wheeling in the abandoned countryside exploring ruins and chilling with their personalized AI assistant. 

They should just immediatelly surrender to North Korea.

1) Workforce getting smaller

2) Amount of eldery same or rising

Yeah, kinda awkward for them.

North Korea did tell the South multiple times that american values destroy everything they touch. The South was greedy for money and didnt listen.

May they enjoy the blessings of capitalism now, when their population will for the first time in history become smaller than North's population. Well, the North did always have faster growing population due to their family values, so this was expected.

What do you get when you betray your own values and culture in favor of brainless wealth accumulation and consumerism?

I will tell you what you get. You get what you fucking deserved.

For those of you who think that North Korea is starving, you are being lied to.

North Korea is the second largest in the world producer of rabbit meat.

Every house in North Korea has rabbits. Rabbits eat grass. People eat rabbits. Simple, really.

Every house in North Korea is self-sufficient in food production.

Over 160,000 tons of rabbit meat produced every year. That is 160,000,000 kilograms.

Add to that chickens, fruits, vegetables, grains, cows, other cattle...ect.

Yeah, anyone who thinks that North Korea is starving needs a brain check.

For those of you who need divine translation:

God liked North Korea due to their high morality.

God despised South Korea due to their sexual perversion, porn, adultery, homosexuality and greed for money.

Thats why North Korea gets blessed and gets good leaders who improve the country.

Thats why South Korea gets low birth rates and corrupt leaders.

I used to think that because of this reunification would happen on North Koreas terms but I don’t think they’d even want to reunify with the mess that’s likely coming South Koreas way. It’s hard to put into words how incredibly bad 4x as many retirees as new workers is 

I always thought that God liked Communism.  Today communism is the official form of government in only five countries: China, North Korea, Laos, Cuba, and Vietnam.

I dont think the unification is possible unless South Korea gives up its government and accepts whatever government North Korea gives them.

Current government of South Korea will never agree to unification.

Still about twice as many in the South.

And the North Korean birth rate is also decreasing.

Don't count your chickens yet.

South Korean are 0.8

That means, in 100 years, South Korea shrinks by more than half.

Plus, North Korea always had faster growing population, its just that South started with much more population than the North.

I heard that the low birth rate is because of the south korean society's traditions. It's frowned upon being a single mother, for example, so if a woman doesn't find a man to get married, she can't opt for an artificial insemmination to have a baby because society would look down on her.

I guess the abortion rate is high as well.

But if in ten years time things have changed.....Then something maybe.

@thett3

Why an aging population is bad,

Isn't exactly clear to me.

Is it because retired people often in countries receive tax money from the government?

. .

I ask that, as you mention young people as working for the masses of old,

But if there's less workers,

Wouldn't they be paid more?

. . .

Even if there isn't a young man to every bedpan,

Bedpan sounds a bit at the 'very end of life,

If old people stay active, they don't need 'so much care,

Old people can still take care of each other,

Still hold jobs.

@NoOneInParticular

Personally I think a country is best off not accepting immigrants as a 'general policy.