Management of Rapid Population Growth in Korea : Toward Systemic Integration of Development Policies

Abstract

Public policy is a certain course of action selected in order to overcome problems faced by the government. The rapid population growth in Korea has been perceived as a serious obstacle to economic development of the country. The major problems involved in the process of population change taking place in Korea are as follows: (a) Rapid population growth brings about a relative decrease in per capita material resources available in the country. During the 1955-60 period, the annual increase rate of population was 2.9%, while the annual growth rate of GNP was merely 4.4% during the same period. The implications of population growth could be further explained in view of specific information on the annual increase rate of value added in the primary industry which was 1.7% and the annual growth rate of food products was 1.5% during the period. The scarcity of per capita resources was demonstrated by the fact that the population density increased from 218 to 254 persons per square kilometer during the period. In response to such loudness of the population explosion, the government initiated the family planning program in 1961, which contributed to the reduction of population growth rate from 2.9% to 2.7% during the period of 1960-66. On the other hand, the first five year economic development plan (1962-66) was to develop economic resources and to utilize them to the maximum extent.