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Many adults in South Korea have chosen either not to have children or not to marry.
韩国许多成年人要么选择不生孩子，要么选择不结婚。
Similar things are happening in other developed countries, but many consider South Korea’s population crisis severe.
其他发达国家也发生了类似的事情，但许多人认为韩国的人口危机很严重。
A South Korean government agency announced in September that the total fertility rate reached 0.81 last year.
韩国政府机构9月宣布，去年的总和生育率达到0.81。
The total fertility rate is the average number of babies born to each woman in their reproductive years.
总和生育率是指每名女性在育龄期平均生育的婴儿数量。
South Korea’s fertility rate has been the world’s lowest for three years now.
韩国的生育率已经连续三年处于世界最低水平。
The population decreased for the first time in 2021.
2021年，人口数量首次减少。
It raised concerns for severe damage to the economy.
这引发了人们对经济严重受损的担忧。
Some observers expect labor shortages and high spending on retirement payments as the number of older people increases while the number of taxpayers decreases.
一些观察人士预计，随着老年人数量增加，纳税人数量减少，将出现劳动力短缺和退休金支出高企的情况。
President Yoon Suk Yeol has ordered policymakers to find better ways to deal with the problem.
韩国总统尹锡悦已经命令政策制定者寻找更好的方法来解决这个问题。
The fertility rate, he said, is still decreasing although South Korea spent $210 billion over the past 16 years to increase it.
他说，尽管韩国在过去16年里花费了2100亿美元来提高生育率，但生育率仍在下降。
Many young South Koreans say that, unlike their parents and grandparents, they do not feel an obligation to have a family.
许多年轻的韩国人说，与他们的父母和祖父母不同，他们觉得他们没有组建家庭的义务。
Reasons some say for not having children include: a difficult job market, costly housing, inequality between the sexes, and social inequality.
有人说不生孩子的原因包括：就业市场困难、住房昂贵、性别不平等和社会不平等。
Some also say the high cost of raising children in a competitive society is a reason.
也有人说，在竞争激烈的社会里，养育孩子的成本高也是一个原因。
Some women say men expect them to do much of the childcare while they face discrimination at work.
一些女性表示，男性希望她们承担大部分育儿工作，且在工作中面临歧视。
Lee So-Young is a population policy expert at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs.
李素英是韩国卫生与社会事务研究所的人口政策专家。
She said, “People think our country isn’t an easy place to live.”
她说：“人们认为在我们的国家生存不易。”
And she added, “They believe their children can’t have better lives than them, and so question why they should bother to have babies.”
她还说，“他们认为自己的孩子不可能比他们过得更好，因此质疑他们为什么要费心生孩子。”
Choi Yoon Kyung is an expert at the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education.
崔尹京是韩国儿童保育和教育研究所的专家。
She said many people who fail to enter good schools and get good jobs feel they have become “dropouts” who “cannot be happy.”
她说，许多没能考上好学校、找不到好工作的人觉得自己成了“无法幸福的辍学生”。
They feel that way even if they marry and have children because South Korea lacks social spending programs.
即使他们结婚生子，他们也会有这种感觉，因为韩国缺乏社会支出计划。
She said South Korea failed to establish such programs during its economic growth in the 1960s to the 1980s.
她说，韩国在20世纪60年代至80年代的经济增长期间未能建立此类计划。
There are no official numbers on how many South Koreans have chosen not to marry or have children.
关于有多少韩国人选择不结婚或不生孩子，目前还没有官方数据。
But records from one national agency show there were about 193,000 marriages in South Korea last year.
但一家全国性机构的记录显示，去年韩国约有19.3万对夫妇结婚。
That is a big drop from the highest point of 430,000 in 1996.
与1996年的最高值43万对夫妇结婚相比，出现了大幅下降的现象。
Agency information also says about 260,600 babies were born in South Korea last year, down from 691,200 in 1996.
该机构的信息还表明，去年韩国出生的婴儿约为26.06万人，低于1996年的69.12万人。
The highest level was 1 million babies in 1971.
最高值是1971年的100万婴儿。
The recent numbers were the lowest since the agency began collecting such information in 1970.
最近的数字是该机构自1970年开始收集此类信息以来的最低值。
Until the mid-1990s, South Korea had birth control programs, which the government started to slow the country’s population increase after the Korean War.
直到20世纪90年代中期，韩国才实行计划生育计划，韩国政府在朝鲜战争后开始减缓该国人口的增长速度。
The government gave out birth control drugs and devices for free at public medical centers.
韩国政府在公共医疗中心免费发放避孕药和节育设备。
It also offered men exemptions from some required military service if they had a medical operation that prevents fertility.
如果男性进行了节育手术，韩国政府还允许他们免服兵役。
United Nations information shows that the average South Korean woman gave birth to about four to six children in the 1950s and ‘60s, three to four in the 1970s, and fewer than two by the mid-1980s.
联合国资料显示，20世纪50年代和60年代，韩国女性平均生育四到六个孩子，20世纪70年代为三到四个孩子，到20世纪80年代中期不到两个孩子。
South Korea has been offering different incentives and support programs for those who give birth to many children.
韩国一直在为那些生育多个孩子的人提供不同的奖励和支持计划。
But Choi said the fertility rate has been falling too fast to see any real effects.
但崔表示，生育率下降得太快，看不到任何实际影响。
During a government meeting last month, officials said they would soon have to propose new measures to deal with the population decrease.
在上个月的一次政府会议上，官员们表示，他们必须得尽快提出新的措施来应对人口减少的问题。
Yoo Young Yi is a financial worker in Seoul.
柳永义是首尔的一名金融工作者。
She said that until she went to college, she strongly wanted a baby.
她说，在她上大学之前，她一直非常想要孩子。
But she changed her mind when she saw female coworkers concerned about their children or leaving early when their children were sick.
但当她看到女同事担心孩子或在孩子生病时提前离开时，她改变了主意。
She said her male coworkers did not have to do this.
她说，她的男同事不必这么做。
She said she then thought her ability to work would decrease if she had babies.
她说，她当时认为，如果她有了孩子，她的工作能力就会下降。
Her 34-year-old husband, Jo Jun Hwi, said he does not think having children is necessary.
她34岁的丈夫赵俊辉说，他认为没有必要生孩子。
He works at an information technology company.
他在一家信息技术公司工作。
Jo said he wants to enjoy his life after getting a job made him “feel like I was standing on the edge of a cliff.”
许俊辉说，获得一份工作让他“感觉自己就像站在悬崖边上”，因此他想享受生活。
But 38-year-old Seo Ji Seong said she is often called a patriot by older people for having many babies although she has not thought of it that way.
但38岁的徐志成说，她经常被年长的人称为爱国者，因为她生了很多孩子，尽管她从来没有这样想过。
She is expecting her fifth baby in January.
她将在一月份迎来她的第五个孩子。
Her husband said he enjoys seeing each of his children growing up, while Seo values their development at home.
她的丈夫说，他喜欢看着每个孩子长大，而徐则重视他们在家里的成长。
“They are all so cute. That’s why I’ve kept giving birth to babies even though it’s difficult,” Seo added.
徐说：“他们都很可爱。这就是我一直在生孩子的原因，尽管这很难。”
I’m Gregory Stachel. And I'm Caty Weaver.
格雷戈里·施塔赫尔、凯蒂·韦弗为您共同播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
