VOA文化艺术2023--South Korean City Turns to Matchmaking to Increase Low Birth Rates

South Korean City Turns to Matchmaking to Increase Low Birth Rates

While Christmas music played, 100 South Korean men and women gathered at a hotel near the capital of Seoul with their names written for others to see.

They were hoping to find love. The government hopes they will make babies.

The young men and women were at a blind dating event held by the city of Seongnam. Blind dating is when two people who do not know each other meet in hopes of forming a relationship.

The local government is attempting to fight the falling birth rate in a country where the popularity¹ of marriage and parenthood has fallen.

Those who joined were in their 20s and 30s. They sat quietly next to one another until a relationship expert started the event with a game called rock-paper-scissors. People soon began to talk and laugh.

The city appeared set on making a match. It prepared food and drinks like red wine and chocolate. There were also games, free beauty services, and even services to look into people's backgrounds for the singles that joined.

Lee Yu-mi is 36 and works for the city government. She said she registered to join three times before she was finally accepted to join the event.

"I had no idea it would be this competitive," she said.

After five such gatherings² this year, 198 people among 460 left the event as "couples", agreeing to exchange contact information, the city said.

The South Korean capital Seoul had considered a similar event but put the plan on hold after facing criticism. Some said the event was a waste of taxpayers³' money and it failed to deal with the reasons people were choosing to not marry and have babies. Those reasons include the high costs of housing and education.

Hwang Da-bin took part in a September event. He said it saved him the cost of joining other social events or signing up for professional match-making services.

"We are facing a real demographic crisis⁴ and the government needs to do whatever it can. I don't understand people complaining over this," Hwang said.

The average number of children born to each South Korean woman, called the fertility rate, fell to 0.78 last year. The country has the lowest fertility rate in the world.

The number is far below 1.66 in the United States and 1.3 in Japan in 2021. The average rate among countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, a group of 37 democracies with market economies, was 1.58 that same year.

Jun Jae-hoon teaches social welfare at Seoul Women's University. He said it was "nonsense" to expect these events to lead to higher birth rates.

"You need to spend more money directly on supporting pregnancy⁵, child delivery and parenting to call it a policy..." to increase birth rates, Jung said.

But even with criticism, thousands of people have signed up for this year's blind-dating events held by the Seongnam city.

Seongnam Mayor Shin Sang-jin said spreading good views on marriage would at some point help raise the birth rates. He said that the blind-dating events are just one of many policies his city has created to deal with the falling rates.

"Low birth rates cannot be resolved with a single policy," Shin said. "It's also the city's job to create the environment for people who want to marry find their partners."

Words in This Story

match – n. two people or things that are suited to each other

background – n. the experiences, knowledge, and education in a person's past

demographic – adj. of or relating to the study of changes that occur in large groups of people over a period of time

complain – v. to say or write that you are unhappy, sick, uncomfortable or that you do not like something

resolve – v. to find an answer or solution to (something): to settle or solve (something)

1 popularity   

n.普及，流行，名望，受欢迎

参考例句：

• The story had an extensive popularity among American readers.这本小说在美国读者中赢得广泛的声望。
• Our product enjoys popularity throughout the world.我们的产品饮誉全球。

2 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

3 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

4 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

5 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。