The transformation of Korean child-spacing practices

Abstract

In this paper the trend in child-spacing in Korea from the 1950s to the 1970s is examined by using a life-table approach and statistics from three separate surveys. Marked increases occurred in the pace of fertility at the lower parities, at the same time there were rapid declines in the pace of fertility at higher parities. A variety of factors brought about this mixture of trends. For example, the shortening of the first birth interval is partly the result of increases in the number of pre-marital pregnancies; whereas, the use of contraception lengthened intervals between births of fourth and higher orders. These trends are examined for a variety of sub-groups within Korea, and additional explanations for the changes documented are explored.

This report, derives from a larger project on ‘Childspacing in Korea and the Philippines’ that involves the authors of this article and also Mercedes Concepcion of the University of the Philippines and Peter C. Smith of the East-West Population Institute. We are indebted to the Korean Institute for Family Planning and the Bureau of Statistics, Economic Planning Board, for allowing us access to the data used here. We are also grateful to Rosemarie Rothwell-Koningsberger for computer programming and Gregory Chu for cartographic work. Helpful comments came from Peter Donaldson, Chai Bin Park, David Smith, George Worth and Ken Shin. This research was carried out principally at the East-West Population Institute under a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (no. 5 R01 HD12071-02).

This report, derives from a larger project on ‘Childspacing in Korea and the Philippines’ that involves the authors of this article and also Mercedes Concepcion of the University of the Philippines and Peter C. Smith of the East-West Population Institute. We are indebted to the Korean Institute for Family Planning and the Bureau of Statistics, Economic Planning Board, for allowing us access to the data used here. We are also grateful to Rosemarie Rothwell-Koningsberger for computer programming and Gregory Chu for cartographic work. Helpful comments came from Peter Donaldson, Chai Bin Park, David Smith, George Worth and Ken Shin. This research was carried out principally at the East-West Population Institute under a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (no. 5 R01 HD12071-02).

Notes

This report, derives from a larger project on ‘Childspacing in Korea and the Philippines’ that involves the authors of this article and also Mercedes Concepcion of the University of the Philippines and Peter C. Smith of the East-West Population Institute. We are indebted to the Korean Institute for Family Planning and the Bureau of Statistics, Economic Planning Board, for allowing us access to the data used here. We are also grateful to Rosemarie Rothwell-Koningsberger for computer programming and Gregory Chu for cartographic work. Helpful comments came from Peter Donaldson, Chai Bin Park, David Smith, George Worth and Ken Shin. This research was carried out principally at the East-West Population Institute under a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (no. 5 R01 HD12071-02).