Korea’s child population is declining rapidly. In an era marked by low birth rates, one of the most fundamental ways to address the challenge of a declining child population may be through universal welfare policies and proactive interventions that improve the quality of life for children. In this context, the Comprehensive Survey on Children (CSC), conducted every three years as mandated in Article 11 of the Child Welfare Act, provides essential data for developing child welfare policies. The survey captures a broad spectrum of information on children’s living conditions, including their growing environments, linguistic and cognitive development, emotional and physical health, safety, and experiences of abuse. These findings help shape national frameworks, such as master plans and action strategies. In this month’s Health and Welfare Forum, we explore various aspects of children’s living conditions as revealed by the 2023 CSC. Our focus is on evaluating, through key indicators, the state of children’s mental health, development, education, and safety, and offering recommendation for policy improvements. We hope this May issue serves as a foundation for efforts to create a safer, healthier environment for all children.

In this article, I address Korean children’s mental health status in terms of such indicators of relevance as stress, depression, anxiety, self-harm, suicide ideation, mobile phone overdependence, and problematic gaming behavior, drawing on data from the 2023 Comprehensive Survey on Children (CSC). Compared to 2018, while children’s mental health has improved overall, the suicide ideation rate has increased, with little improvement shown in the mental health levels of children from socioeconomically vulnerable households. In addition to having a system in place to monitor children’s mental health status, of which the CSC is a part, Korea takes on mental health issues among children through its child and mental health policies. Further efforts are needed to ensure that mental health measures for children function efficiently and in a more integrated manner, which would require enhancing cross-policy coordination.

Infancy and early childhood constitute a period of particular importance in the context of human development. Human development in this early phase forms the foundation for subsequent physical, cognitive, social, and emotional growth. Thus, it is essential to ensure that the foundational development milestones for children from birth on are well on track, and that high-quality care and education services are provided to foster their healthy development down the line. In this article, I examine how things stand in Korea with early-childhood development―cognitive, linguistic, and social―and care, through a comparison of the results of the two latest rounds of the Comprehensive Survey on Children, one conducted in 2023 and the other in 2018. I also identify tasks that need to be undertaken in the area of childcare support policy in order to better support healthy development and at-home childcare for infants and young children.

The percentage of children satisfied with their school life, a key child development indicator outlined in the 2nd Master Plan for Child Policy, has declined below its 2019 level, falling far short of reaching the 80-percent target set for 2024. Drawing on data from the 2023 Comprehensive Survey on Children, I explore the current state of school satisfaction among Korean children and factors affecting it. The findings suggest that, in order to raise the overall school satisfaction, measures must focus particularly on children attending high school, who, compared to their middle- or elementary-school counterparts, report notably lower life satisfaction, and that as the factors affecting school satisfaction differ across the three divisions of pre-tertiary education―elementary, middle, and high school―policy interventions must be tailored to differentiated goals.

Given how prone incidents of child abuse and neglect are to remaining hidden, statistics on reported cases likely fail to capture the scope and nature of unreported ones. In light of the fact that the prevalence of child abuse and neglect as identified in the 2023 Comprehensive Survey on Children (CSC) is far higher than that of substantiated child abuse and neglect, the need is acute for preventive measures against cases of child abuse and neglect that go unreported. The prevalence of physical and emotional abuse was found in the latest CSC to have declined from its level in the previous survey conducted five years before, in 2018. However, the incidence of neglect has increased. Repeated maltreatment cases have also risen somewhat. The prevalence of neglect varied markedly across different household types, necessitating that these differences be considered when taking preventive and support measures for neglect cases. To better respond to child abuse, the focus of interventions should shift from recovery and ex post support to prevention. To prevent neglect, proactive interventions will have to combine increased universal support as well as targeted support tailored to individual risk factors.

According to the Comprehensive Survey on Children, Korean children’s happiness levels have risen on average over the past 10 years. These life satisfaction scores, measured on a Cantril Ladder scale, rose from 6.10 in 2013 to 6.57 in 2018 and to 7.14 in 2023, which may be attributed to improved quality of life among Korean children. When results from other studies are put into perspective, however, such outcomes do not amount to sufficient evidence for ascertaining the extent to which Korean children’s happiness has improved over the period. What is clear, though, is that, as disparities persist in life satisfaction scores―despite their overall gains―across children from different socioeconomic backgrounds, efforts must continue, aimed at improving policy interventions. For effective policymaking, it is also crucial to continually monitor how post-COVID-19 changes in daily life patterns affect quality of life and happiness.

The multi-child family policy has been in place in Korea as part of its population strategy, with the target population expanding since 2020 from “families with three or more children” to include “families with two or more children.” This shift represents a move toward more meaningful, per-child investments, which has led local governments to establish new ordinances and amend existing policy measures accordingly. However, the standards and approaches applied for providing support vary across local governments. A case in point is the concept of “supra multi-child” introduced by some municipalities, which, while having the positive effect of further differentiating the levels of support, can add another layer of eligibility criteria. The multi-child family policy, focused on reducing the family burden of infant and early childhood care, consists mainly of family-specific exemptions, reduced charges, and time-limited cash benefits. This policy in the time ahead should become, beyond a mere means of encouraging childbirth, a comprehensive support system that incorporates life-course considerations, aiming at ensuring children’s rights and a better quality of life for families with children.