SEOUL, Feb 28 Reuters South Korea39;s fertility rate, already the world39;s lowest, continued its dramatic decline in 2023, as women concerned about their career advancement and the financial cost of raising children decided to delay childbirth or to not have babies.

The average number of expected babies for a South Korean woman during her reproductive life fell to a record low of 0.72 from 0.78 in 2022, data from Statistics Korea showed on Wednesday.

That is far below the rate of 2.1 per woman needed for a steady population and well behind the rate of 1.24 in 2015 when concerns about issues such as the cost of housing and education were lower.

Since 2018, South Korea has been the only Organisation for Economic CoOperation and Development OECD member with a rate below 1, defying the billions of dollars spent by the country to try to reverse the trend that led the population to decline for a fourth straight year in 2023.

South Korea also has the worst gender pay gap in the OECD, as Korean women bring home about twothirds of the income then men.

Women typically can39;t build on their experience to climb higher at workplaces because they are often…the only one doing the childcare and often need to rejoin the workforce after extended leaves, said Jung Jaehoon, a professor at Seoul Women39;s University.

Having a baby is on my list, but there39;s windows for promotions and I don39;t want to be passed over, said Gwak Taehee, 34, a junior manager at a Korean dairy…