South Korea: Society on the brink

As someone grew up in China, I can really relate. The hyper competitive nature of the education culture was and still is so toxic to the point that kids often broke down even before prepping Gaokao/Uni entrance exam( depression was not really a thing back then). And now you often get "996"(9am-9pm, 6 days a week) work schedule, where and how do you find the time to live? Let alone have and raise kids......

The money machine, the career machine, the machine that tells you to produce GDP points… is anti-family lol.

That old lonely grandma breaks my heart and I wish I could visit her as a neighbor

Even in USA we are having this issue, it's simply too expensive to have a family in today's world.

This is a worldwide trend in developed nations. The way around it is to de-emphasize mega cities which are high stress high cost and like pressure cookers. Nobody wants nor can afford family building. Emphasize modernizing smaller cities and towns and have more flexible work hours with remote work options. When people are less stressed with good living environment families will naturally happen.

When you have society that worships material wealth and status, beyond human relationships, this is what you get, no surprise. Sad all the way around.

As living costs rise this will be a problem. We are beginning to see this in the United States. Why would a woman choose to have children if she sees that taking care of them properly would be a constant struggle? I had one child. Economics and practicality and health played a huge role in my decision. I sometimes say that "despair" is a virus spreading over the world. People are disconnected from one another and our societies perpetuate the disconnection despite having online communities we need connections with substance. When we work all the time and don't connect with each other we emotionally deteriorate.

Low birthrate is not the ISSUE!! It's the result of the high stress society.

This Phenomenon is HAPPENING ACROSS the World. It happens when COST to have a livable life becomes too HIGH. Having Children also becomes HIGH. Owning a HOME is difficult and Cost of Living ( Food, Transport, medical, etc ) becomes too high. Why take on the BURDEN of CHILDREN ?? I have many friends who decided NOT to have KIDS. S.Korea like Japan will soon have a decline in Manufacturing as WORKERS are getting less. Taiwan, S.Korea and Japan will have a SHRINKING GDP. Whilst Cost of Living gets more EXPENSIVE. :hand-orange-covering-eyes::hand-orange-covering-eyes::hand-orange-covering-eyes:

Imagine a society where there are more working robots than humans. Soon the robots will have no one to work for. The doll for elderly is honestly so sad, it’s better than nothing but clearly a band-aid. At that stage, if they cannot live with family why doesn’t the government help make assisted or independent living communities that can offer more social interaction for the elderly. In college I taught one semester at a retirement community that offered all kinds of activities, classes and even group field trips. These seniors were active and were enjoying themselves as far as I could tell.

Really sad to see elderly people hugging robots 😳

Nothing lasts, a person, a family, a government, a country, no matter what they do reach a peak and then die or end. Everything resets

@18:38 - For a Confucian country that prides itself on respecting its elders and taking care of them, this is soo sad to see.

Main causes of alarming birthrate decline are due to a very materialistic society, high of social pressure and competition to keep up worsens by the severe lack of natural resources in Korea. 😢

I guess it's not racism if you dislike all foreigners equally.

The irony of prosperity is that eventually the society will die because of it

This will keep on continuing as the society eventually collapses

That Robot baby scene is the saddest thing I have ever seen...

Please make a video about Thailand for the the same problem. It is projected to become the first developing country to be classified as a super-aged society soon.

I spoke with a group of women, all of them with one or two young children. They told me the biggest pressure to raising a child in Korea are the educational costs. Private education is what is crippling the household in debt, but they can't stop because it's a hyper competitive society. It's a vicious cycle.