Why does South Korea have the LOWEST fertility rate in the world by far, much lower than even Japan and China? Two words: Social engineering. Everyone’s heard of China’s One Child Policy, but few know that for *decades* South Korea pushed a Two-Child Policy.

Starting in the 1950s, the South Korean government launched a population control campaign in the name of “modernizing” the country and “growing the economy”. This involved creating anti-family financial rules and battering the population with anti-family, anti-child propaganda.

The campaign was successful, helping drive the fertility rate down from 6 children per woman to less than 2 children per woman. But it came at a cost - there were no longer enough young people. The government only changed policy in 2005, but by then South Korean society had fully internalized anti-child views.

What are the takeaways her? - Social engineering and propaganda are *very* powerful, and can be used for either good or bad (here it was used for bad). - Technocrats who panicked about “overpopulation” in the mid-20th century caused untold long term harm to their societies.