By The Straits Times | Created at 2026-10-12 09:21:47 | Updated at 2026-10-12 10:09:00
51 minutes ago
SEOUL – A 35-year-old father of two, ages two and four, has waited 18 months for a place for his younger child at a public daycare centre in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.
“My child is No. 285 on the waiting list. Most of the parents waiting for places have children aged zero to two,” said the father, who asked not to be named.
“My wife works part-time to care for our children, so our household income has fallen.”
He filed a complaint with the Gwangjin District Office, questioning why it had not anticipated child care demand when a new apartment complex was built.
Privately operated and home-based daycare centres offer alternatives to public facilities, but parents say finding an available place along their commuting routes can also be difficult.
“If you apply as soon as your baby is born, a place usually opens up around their first birthday,” said a mother in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, who is expecting her second baby in 2027.
The parents’ accounts suggest that a nationwide decline in daycare centres does not necessarily make places easier to find locally, especially for infants.
The number of daycare centres in South Korea fell for the 12th consecutive year from a 2013 peak of 43,770 to 26,064 in 2025 – a decline of about 40%. The total was also 4.8% lower than in 2024, according to Ministry of Health and Welfare data.
Falling enrolment squeezes centres, especially infant classes
“The government’s expansion of free childcare in 2013 led to a surge in enrolment, including among infants who might otherwise have been cared for at home, and the number of home-based childcare centres grew sharply,” said Choi Hyo-mi, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education.
“As the number of children continues to fall, centres struggle to meet the minimum enrolment required to qualify for government subsidies and cover teachers’ salaries, leading to closures.”
Declining enrolment is not the only challenge facing daycare centres.
A former operator in her late 60s, who closed her home-based centre in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, in 2018, described other pressures.
“As more mothers have only one child, their expectations have grown. I also think excessive negative media coverage of accidents and child abuse at daycare centres, along with frequent complaints, has made running a centre difficult,” she said.
In 2015, CCTV footage from a daycare centre in Incheon showed a teacher hitting a four-year-old girl for not finishing her food. The incident sparked national outrage and prompted legislation requiring surveillance cameras in daycare centres.
Rebounding birthrate
Births in South Korea rose for a second consecutive year in 2025, increasing 6.7% to 254,341, even as the number of daycare centres continued to fall.
The Ministry of Education plans to allow public daycare centres to limit operations to infants aged zero to two, instead of requiring them to serve both infants and older children.
The proposed legal amendment is open for public comment and could take effect as early as in 2027, according to a ministry official.
Responsibility for childcare was transferred from the Ministry of Health and Welfare to the Ministry of Education in June 2024.
“Older children can attend kindergartens, but access to care appears to be a particular problem for children aged 0 to 2, especially in newly developed towns,” the official told The Korea Herald.
“We aim to improve access by allowing public daycare centres to operate with infant classes only.”
While the number of privately operated, social welfare corporation-run and home-based daycare centres has declined, public centres have continued to increase, rising 3.4% to 6,745 in 2025 from 6,521 in 2024. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
