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I always feel that everytime I read about East Asian social problems, it’s extremely focused on highly educated upper middle class striving part of the population. But then what about the remaining 80%+ of the population? What do Koreans who don’t do well at school think? The ones whose parents just run a shop or works for the municipality or something? People who never thought about buying a flat in a good area anyway? Surely there is also a real massive drop in the fertility rates of such people as well and it’s not because they are off studying or working 80 hours a week?
Semi-unrelated, I remember reading several years ago that one of the causes of Japan's low birthrate, or just more of a general problem, was everyone moving into the big cities, emptying out the rural countrysides. Maybe something similar is happening in Korea, and the non-urban areas are depopulating?
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Right. The Atlantic magazine article linked talks to a bunch of upper-middle class English-speaking Koreans, many of whom studied in the US (something very few Koreans ever do unless they come from rich families). The birthrate collapse can’t be blamed on them really, cities have been IQ shredders for affluent strivers for a thousand years, possibly forever.
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