Global Family Forum highlights traditional family values amid Korea's population crisis
Korea's traditional extended-family culture could help address the country's low birthrate and deepening population crisis, according to experts and civil society leaders at the 2026 Global Family Forum in Seoul. The forum, hosted by the Federation for Korean Families, was held Saturday at the Textile Center in Seoul. Held under the theme, "The Population and Family Crisis and the Value of Korean…
The 2026 Global Family Forum, organized by the Federation for Korean Families, convened in Seoul to explore how traditional Korean family values might aid the nation's population crisis, marked by a plummeting birthrate. The forum, themed "The Population and Family Crisis and the Value of Korean Family Culture: Transitioning toward a Family-Friendly Society and Ensuring Sustainability for Future Generations," gathered around 600 attendees, comprising 180 organizations, academics, experts, civil society groups, and policymakers.
Experts and civil society leaders posited that merely increasing financial support was insufficient to tackle Korea's low birthrate. They underscored the necessity for a supportive social and cultural milieu that fosters a more favorable perception of marriage, childbirth, and family formation. Despite a rise in Korea's total fertility rate to 0.80 in 2025, the most recent data available, this rate remains among the lowest in the OECD, signaling the severity of the issue.
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