Incheon to subsidize families with cumulative W100m won per child

Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok (center) talks about the "100 million+i dream" policy during a press briefing at Incheon City Hall on Monday. (Yonhap)

The Incheon Metropolitan Government stated on Monday that it will provide up to a combined 100 million won ($76,969) in subsidies cumulatively over the life of a child up until age 18.

Titled “100 million+i dream,” the policy proposes to provide cumulative monetary support for every child born in Incheon from 2023 from birth until they reach age 18.

The total cumulative 100 million won figure comes from combining 28 million won in new funds and 72 million won that is already currently being offered as parental benefits, a child allowance, an infant allowance and educational expenses.

The additional total cumulative 28 million won includes 8.4 million won to be provided via the “Angel Support Program” and 8.8 million won via the “Child Dream Allowance.”

The Angel Support Program is an addition to the infant allowance that is currently being given and provides 1.2 million won per year for each child between ages of one to seven. Children born in 2023 and after are eligible to apply for this program.

The Child Dream Allowance aims to subsidize children born after 2024 with up to 19.8 million won in monthly payments of 150,000 won per child aged between 8 to 18.

To cover those born before 2023, the Incheon Metropolitan Government plans to provide 50,000 won a month per child born between 2016 to 2019 and 100,000 won a month per child born between 2020 and 2023.

Additionally, the Incheon city government also aims to provide a one-time lumpsum subsidy to cover 500,000 won in transportation expenses won for pregnant women.

“Incheon’s birth policy focuses on providing continuous support for all stages of growth for a child, from when they are infants until they reach the age of 18,” said Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok.

“We hope that Incheon’s proactive birth policy will lead to national birth encouragement policies to be made and for the development of policies to counter the low birth rate," he continued.

Meanwhile, in the third quarter of this year, Incheon’s fertility rate was 0.66, lower than the nationwide average of 0.7. Incheon ranks 15th out of 17 South Korean cities, along with Gwangju, in terms of fertility rate, according to Statistics Korea. The fertility rate is defined as the average number of children born to a woman in her reproductive years.

By Lee Jung-joo(lee.jungjoo@heraldcorp.com)