Last year, the number of stay-at-home dads hit an all-time high

A father and daughter look at exhibits installed at the National Hangul Museum in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul, last October. [NEWS1]

Last year, 16,000 fathers left the labor force to raise children, a record high.

The number of economically inactive fathers who dedicate their lives to raising children increased by 37.4% last year, up from 12,000 in 2022, according to the latest data from Statistics Korea.

Last year's number was the highest ever since statistics were first tracked in June 1999.

This number has almost tripled in 10 years, jumping from 6,000 in 2013 to 9,000 in 2019.

As the number of newborns in the country decreased, more men took on the role of parents.

Although the total number of people who quit their jobs to raise children decreased from 1.42 million in 2013 to about 856,000 last year, the proportion of men who dedicate their lives to raising children has increased relatively.

This phenomenon can be attributed to changes in society that are encouraging more men to take parental leave and increasing the number of husbands and fathers sharing the burden of childcare.

By age group, more than half of the respondents were full-time fathers in their 40s, followed by fathers in their 30s (about 4,600 or 28.8%).

Last year, approximately 840,000 women suspended their economic activities to raise children, a decrease of 14.7% from the previous year.

In 10 years, the number of full-time mothers has almost halved. In 2013, approximately 1.47 million mothers stayed home to care for their children. That number decreased from 1.26 million in 2017 to approximately 984,000 in 2022.

Still, the number of full-time working mothers far outnumbers male mothers by nearly 50 times, meaning that the burden of raising children continues to fall on women in South Korea.

The most prominent age group is mothers in their 30s, who account for 59.1 percent of all economically inactive mothers. The runner-up was a non-working mother in her 40s.

The number of women who are actively engaged in economic activities is on the rise.

In 2011, 49.8% of all women were less than half of the workforce. This ratio increased to 50.3 percent and 53.5 percent in 2013 and 2019, respectively.

Last year, the female workforce ratio reached a record high of 55.6%.

According to data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), South Korea's female labor force participation rate in 2022 was 54.6%, slightly lower than the OECD average of 56.4%.

The Korean Business Federation also announced that Korean women's economic participation in 2021 ranks near the bottom among 37 OECD countries.

The government is expected to announce measures this month to boost women's economic activity to boost the country's economic growth.

Written by Lee Ji-young and Lee Soo-jung [[email protected]]