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Cited by 200Family Dynamics and RelationshipsDemographic Trends and Gender PreferencesGlobal Educational Reforms and Inequalities

EDUCATION FEVER AND THE EAST ASIAN FERTILITY PUZZLE: A case study of low fertility in South Korea

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Anderson, Thomas, Kohler, Hans-Peter·2013·Asian Population Studies
DOI 10.1080/17441730.2013.797293PMC PMC4038909
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Abstract

Fertility throughout East Asia has fallen rapidly over the last five decades and is now below the replacement rate of 2.1 in every country in the region. Using South Korea as a case study, we argue that East Asia's ultra-low fertility rates can be partially explained by the steadfast parental drive to have competitive and successful children. Parents throughout the region invest large amounts of time and money to ensure that their children are able to enter prestigious universities and obtain top jobs. Accordingly, childrearing has become so expensive that the average couple cannot afford to have more than just one or two children. The trend of high parental investment in child education, also known as 'education fever', exemplifies the notion of 'quality over quantity' and is an important contributing factor to understanding low-fertility in East Asia.

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  • At the provincial level in Korea, there is a negative association between household spending on children's education and TFRs.

    “Anderson and Kohler (2013) show that, at the provincial level in Korea, there is a negative association between household spending on children's education and TFRs.”

    From Division of domestic labour and lowest-low fertility in South Korea (2017) · cites this paper as Anderson and Kohler 2013

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Research works printed but not linked: 24

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Authors
Anderson, T., & Kohler, H.-P.
Affiliations
University of Pennsylvania (US)
Corresponding author
Anderson, Thomas
ORCID
Kohler, Hans-Peter
Venue
Asian Population Studies
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2013-07
Volume
9
Issue
2
Pages
196-215
ISSN
  • 1744-1730 (ISSN-L)
  • 1744-1749
DOI
10.1080/17441730.2013.797293
PMC
PMC4038909
OpenAlex
W2117524454
Cited by
200
References
3
Citations by year
2026: 25 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 1
FWCI
21.80
Type
journal article
Language
en
Update notices
correction (2014-05-06)
Open access
Locations
  • Asian Population Studies (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (T32HD007242)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences
  • Social Sciences › Demography › Global Educational Reforms and Inequalities
Keywords
fertility decline, low fertility, education fever, quality over quantity, South Korea

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