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Busan Metropolitan City Strengthens Implementation of Population Policy! 4th Task Force (TF) Meeting on Responding to Population Changes Held

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that on the morning of the 22nd at 10:00 a.m., the 4th Task Force (TF) Meeting on Responding to Population Changes (hereinafter “the Meeting”) was held in the 7th-floor conference room of City Hall to discuss improvements to population policies that citizens can tangibly experience in their daily lives.

The Meeting, presided over by Lee Jun-seung, Vice Mayor for Administrative Affairs, was attended by relevant directors-general. Participants reviewed follow-up actions on key agenda items* discussed at the 3rd meeting in June and focused on concrete implementation measures to generate substantive outcomes.

The main agenda items included ▲ a comprehensive review of support criteria for multi-child families ▲ plans to create youth-friendly industrial complexes ▲ response measures for youth employment in light of the growing number of “resting youth**.”

• ●At the 3rd meeting, discussions focused on population policies closely related to citizens’ lives, such as expanding job opportunities for the elderly and supporting multi-child families.
  ** “Resting youth” refers to young people classified as part of the economically inactive population in the Economically Active Population Survey who, when asked about their activity status in the previous week, responded that they were “just resting.”

At this 4th meeting, it is expected that more concrete action plans related to supporting multi-child families will be developed, leading to practical policy improvements.

Busan Metropolitan City has gradually expanded support since October 2023 by easing the definition of multi-child families from “three or more children” to “two or more children.” However, inconsistencies remained because some projects continued to follow individual ordinances or central government standards, causing inconvenience and confusion for citizens. To address this, the City plans to pursue unification of support criteria for multi-child families, phased expansion, and streamlined procedures to enhance fairness and user convenience.

First, the toll exemption for families with three or more children on the Gwangandaegyo Bridge will be expanded to include families with two children, who will receive a 50 percent discount. To implement this, the City will consult with the City Council and revise the relevant ordinance within the second half of this year.

In addition, the current proof method for multi-child discounts at public parking lots, which required presenting both a Family Love Card and a vehicle sticker, will be unified into a single method.

Furthermore, the discount criteria for multi-child families will be extended to families with two children for certain public services operated by the City and its districts/counties. These include the auto-camping site and bicycle rental services at Nakdonggang River Ecological Park, as well as annual fees at childcare support centers.

The discounts for the auto-camping site and bicycle rental services will take effect after the current lease period ends in May 2026, while the childcare support center fees will be implemented sequentially from the second half of this year following revisions to district/county ordinances.

In addition, the Meeting engaged in in-depth discussions on improving projects that still apply the “three or more children” criterion or impose income and cohabitation requirements.

Currently, based on individual ordinances, fees such as water and sewage charges (for families with three or more children under 18) and school milk programs (for three-child families) apply different criteria than the City’s multi-child ordinance. Plans for phased improvements to address these discrepancies were reviewed.

To promote universal support in pregnancy and childbirth policies, the City will comprehensively review target programs for possible removal of income requirements during the establishment of the 5th Comprehensive Plan for Low Fertility (2026–2030). In addition, the “Ijoa Busan Joa” project (additional subsidies for electric vehicle purchases by families with newborns) will abolish the requirement that children live with parents.

Other key topics included plans to create youth-friendly industrial complexes and response measures for youth employment in light of the increase in “resting youth.”

Vice Mayor Lee Jun-seung stated, “Last year, Busan’s total fertility rate and the number of births rebounded for the first time in nine years, and the number of marriages also increased, indicating positive demographic changes. We will actively reorganize systems that citizens can directly experience in their daily lives to sustain this positive trend.”

He added, “We will continue to expand and identify various policies to respond to demographic changes, ensuring that multi-child families truly feel the benefits, creating an environment where young people can stay and pursue their dreams, and fostering conditions for the creation of quality jobs, thereby building a happy city for all citizens of Busan.”