Male Attitudes toward Family Planning on the Island of Kangwha-Gun, Korea

Abstract

A TOTAL population of 24,994,000 was estimated for South Korea on the basis of preliminary results from the general census of population taken on the last day of 1960. The annual rate of natural increase of almost three per cent over a decade, represented by this figure, is one of the highest in the world and is the result of a decline in mortality with a continuing high birth rate. Expansion of medical facilities and wide use of antibiotics during the 1950's have improved general mortality, with a particularly marked decline in infant mortality. No comparable decline has occurred in natality. South Korea lacks the natural resources required for an expanding economy to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population. With the unsettled economic conditions which have prevailed since the 1950 hostilities, the task of maintaining the health and level of living of the population has become a difficult one. At the same time, it must be realized that further efforts to improve the welfare of the family, an important aspect of which is the health of the mother, will, under conditions of almost uncontrolled fertility, lead to a continued growth in the size of the population. Further population pressure on the already heavily burdened resources of the country will, in turn, threaten the advances that have been made in improving the health of the population and in raising the level of living. The practice of family limitation through induced abortion is not unknown in South Korea and, in fact, has been widespread throughout urban areas for some time in spite of legal restrictions. It is believed that most married women of re-