South Korea has gotten into the news recently because of its shockingly low Total Fertility Rate of 0.72 births per woman in 2023. Yes, that is slightly more than one-third of the population maintenance Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of 2.1 needed to keep a population stable. In order to keep a population stable a woman needs to have 1 girl child who grows up into a woman who then has another girl child herself; etc. Since the standard sex-ratio at birth is about 1.05 male babies for every 1 girl baby and since not all girl babies born will live until reaching reproductive age or through their reproductive years the average woman needs to have 2.1 children in their lifetimes in order to keep the population stable.
So what kind of craziness is this; South Korea at one-third of the necessary fertility rate to maintain its population?