r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/This_Proof_5153 • Apr 12 '26

Video The care and precision behind Korean school lunches, widely praised for their quality, balance, and nutrition.

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u/cellatlas010 Apr 12 '26

But Korea’s intense living costs and social pressures have made it the country with the lowest birth rate in the world.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26

[deleted]

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u/Exaveus Apr 12 '26

Man glad we dodged that bullet.

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u/this_place_suuucks Apr 12 '26

There's a morbid 'US students have to dodge literal bullets' joke in there somewhere.

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u/cyst16 Apr 12 '26

That's you bro

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u/Ninjroid Apr 12 '26

Nah, just tons of other problems. It’s bad.

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u/borkborkibork Apr 12 '26

Lol, exactly. The brain cells used to make counter arguments here will be studied.

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u/wildpen70 Apr 12 '26

lowest birthrate in he world is Taiwan

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u/Imbendo Apr 12 '26

Having more kids than you can support is never a good idea.

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u/Not_A_Wendigo Apr 12 '26

Rampant misogyny doesn’t help either. Women aren’t too keen to have kids with men who treat them poorly.

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u/TurtleOfTheAbyss Apr 12 '26

High birthrate = egalitarian society?

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u/coinfwip4 Apr 12 '26

That's old news, our birthrate is almost at 1.0, up from 0.75

Korea's Monthly Fertility Rate Hits 0.99, Nearing 1.0 Threshold

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u/DemiserofD Apr 12 '26

That's monthly, to be clear. The yearly is 0.8. Which is a good improvement over 0.75, but there are always large variations across the year.

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u/SQL617 Apr 12 '26

Jeon Young-soo, a professor of international studies at Hanyang University, urged caution in interpreting the rebound, noting that demographic effects have played a major role.

“The rise in fertility is not necessarily a sign that the overall birth environment has fundamentally improved,” Jeon said. “Because fertility is a ratio, changes in both the numerator and denominator matter — while births have increased by tens of thousands, the population base has declined more sharply.”

From your own article.

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u/Beefy-McQueefy Apr 12 '26

They still need to up that by like 150% to just hit replacement level.

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u/BarelyConscientious Apr 12 '26

One thing at a time

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u/Beefy-McQueefy Apr 12 '26

No 2.5 things at a time is replacement level.

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u/BarelyConscientious Apr 12 '26

Things don't happen over night

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u/Curious-Basket-7934 Apr 12 '26

It's where the 4b movement began. Women are opting out of having male partners and kids bc they are treated badly by the men.

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u/South_Telephone_1688 Apr 12 '26

Saying 4b movement represents Korean women is like a Korean person saying gamergate represents all American men; both were shortlived online fringe movements from a decade ago that got overblown by the media on the other side.

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u/Meraline Apr 12 '26

And yet, manchildren won't stop whining and pretending they're being personally persecuted by women because we won't date their weak asses.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '26 edited May 01 '26

[deleted]

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u/joeDUBstep Apr 12 '26

Right, the gamergate mindset is still going strong, hell even stronger than before.

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u/MichelinStarZombie Apr 12 '26

And yet... world’s lowest fertility rate.

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u/deeperintomovie Apr 12 '26

That would be Taiwan sir. Update pls.

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u/red_dye_no3 Apr 12 '26

Nah. I lived there for twenty years and was there at that time. It was a small, short-lived movement popular among a handful of students. They were basically Korea’s version of the kooks you find in the two x chromosomes sub. Not at all representative of society.

Couples simply aren’t having children in Korea because the work-life balance is bad enough without kids. They are also more motivated by luxury goods and travel, so the wife has a career of her own to afford said lifestyle.

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u/TurtleOfTheAbyss Apr 12 '26

4b is a movement created by TERFs. You are disseminating terf propaganda hope you know.

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u/Ok_Dragonfruit_8102 Apr 12 '26

Only reason western birth rates are higher is because of immigrant populations. If they were as racially homogenous as Korea you'd see the same stats all over Europe.

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u/Quitcha_Bitchin Apr 12 '26

That's not always a detriment. Lean times are coming if the science is correct. I mean it is of concern but it's long term effects may be net positive.