Daycare shortage hits South Korea

Declining enrollment

Declining enrollment is not the only challenge facing daycare centers. A former operator in her late 60s, who closed her home-based center in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, in 2018, described other pressures.

"As more mothers have only one child, their expectations have grown. I also think excessive negative media coverage of accidents and child abuse at daycare centers, along with frequent complaints, has made running a center difficult," she said.

In 2015, camera footage from a daycare center in Incheon showed a teacher hitting a 4-year-old girl for not finishing her food. The incident sparked national outrage and prompted legislation requiring surveillance cameras in daycare centers.

"Even among my students, few want to become childcare teachers. They seem to see it as a demanding job with low pay and difficult interactions with parents," said Do Mi-hyang, a professor at Namseoul University in South Chungcheong Province.

Births in South Korea rose for a second consecutive year in 2025, increasing 6.7 percent to 254,341, even as the number of daycare centers continued to fall.

The Ministry of Education plans to allow public daycare centers to limit operations to infants aged 2 and under, instead of requiring them to serve both infants and older children.

The proposed legal amendment is open for public comment and could take effect as early as next year, according to a ministry official.

Responsibility for childcare was transferred from the Ministry of Health and Welfare to the Ministry of Education in June 2024.

"Older children can attend kindergartens, but access to care appears to be a particular problem for children aged 0 to 2, especially in newly developed towns," the official said.

"We aim to improve access by allowing public daycare centers to operate with infant classes only."

While the number of privately operated, social welfare corporation-run and home-based daycare centers has declined, public centers have continued to increase, rising 3.4 percent to 6,745 last year from 6,521 in 2024.

THE KOREA HERALD, SOUTH KOREA