South Korea’s childcare centers shrink sharply as birthrate stays low

South Korea’s early-childhood sector is contracting sharply, with the Ministry of Health and Welfare reporting a decline of more than 40 percent in childcare centers since the 2013 apex. In the latest year, about 1,300 facilities shut down, a result of dwindling enrolments and the financial pressures of a persistently low birthrate. The trend extends to kindergartens, which have fallen for eight consecutive years and are now below the numbers recorded at their 2017 peak.

The country’s childcare landscape, which once rose from roughly a thousand centers in the 1990s to over 40,000 in the early 2010s, is now reversing. In response, officials are pursuing a reform that will integrate early-education and childcare under one unified framework, aiming to complete the overhaul by 2030 through legislative changes.