Faced with an abysmally low fertility rate of 0.78, the lowest in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Korean local governments are scrambling to boost fertility.

They have introduced or increased childbirth subsidies and expanded support for infertile couples.

Notably, Gyeongsang Province is eager to arrange meeting programs for those who want to date. The local government even considers giving money to those who become a couple through their meeting programs.

According to Statistics Korea's 2022 birth and death statistics, Busan recorded a fertility rate of 0.72.

It is the second lowest among the 17 cities and provinces after Seoul (0.59).

Due to the low fertility rate and the outflow of young people, Busan became the first metropolitan city in the country to enter the "super-aged society," which means that the proportion of people aged 65 and over is 20 percent or more.

According to local news reports, Saha-gu in Busan is organizing a “seon-nam seon-nyeo” (handsome guys and beautiful ladies) meeting event next year.

Under the program, the Busan government plans to support dating expenses for the men and women who are paired up at the event from next year.

"The fact that young men and women do not marry is one of the reasons for the declining fertility rate," a Saha-gu official said. "We plan to look into whether there are any legal issues related to providing cash subsidies and start paying for their dates from next year."

Some other local governments are even using artificial intelligence (AI) to organize meetings between men and women.

Since July last year, Hadong-gun, South Gyeongsang Province, has been operating the "AI Matchmaking Cafe" program.

The program involves participants answering 160 questions, and an AI system analyzes their personalities and recommends suitable matches among the members. The program has already seen more than 500 people sign up for the program, and it also suggests optimal dating courses.

Dalseo-gu in Daegu also announced it is recruiting members for the "2023 Solo Escape Marriage Expedition" indefinitely. The program is for young men and women who are interested in dating or marriage but lack opportunities to meet with the opposite sex due to their busy work lives.

According to Dalseo-gu, the program is a marriage-friendly project to spread a happy marriage culture by registering and managing unmarried men and women who want to get married at any time of the year, providing opportunities to meet, sharing hobbies, and providing various information such as wedding planner education.

Unmarried men and women who become members will be given priority to attend the "Meet Go- Marry Go" meeting, which is a small group meeting, and will be provided with news about various exotic marriage promotion programs from time to time.

At the same time, the scale of childbirth subsidies is getting bigger.

Buk-gu, Busan, increased the childbirth subsidy 20 times this year to 10 million won ($7,541) from the previous 500,000 won for those who give birth to a third child.

Asan, South Chungcheong Province, also increased the subsidy for the birth of a third child by 10 times, from 1 million won to 10 million won this year.

North Chungcheong Province will offer a maternity and childcare allowance of 10 million won starting in May.

Seoul, the city with the lowest fertility rate, will provide up to 1.1 million won per treatment for all infertile couples.

The city has also removed the existing limit on the number of treatments that an infertile couple can receive.

For the first time in the country, the city is also launching a pilot project to support the cost of the egg-freezing procedure for women aged 30 to 40, including unmarried women. The city will cover 50 percent of the cost of the first procedure, up to a maximum of 2 million won.

Dine-and-dash of childbirth subsidies still remain

While local governments are increasing subsidies in an all-out effort to increase childbirth, there have already been cases where parents receive the subsidies and soon leave the local province.

Haenam-gun, South Jeolla Province, which marked the highest fertility rate for seven consecutive years since 2012, is a notable example of dine-and-dash problems.

According to the National Audit Office, Haenam-gun raised maternity support from 500,000 won to 3 million won in 2012.

As a result, the population of newborns, which was around 500 in 2011, increased to 800 in 2012 and the local government was able to maintain the population of newborns for several years. However, the number of parents who moved into Haenam to take advantage of the maternity benefits was not small.

Data showed that in 2012 and 2015, 27.5 and 28.3 percent of soon-to-be mothers who received maternity benefits moved to Haenam County about six months before giving birth.

The percentage of children who left Haenam County within six months, which is when the subsidy payment is completed, was 18 percent in 2012 and 26 percent in 2015.

Yeongdong-gun, North Chungcheong Province, also increased its maternity support payments in 2017.

The county also saw that 37 percent of the mothers that received the subsidy were those who had been in the county for less than a year.

There are also cases where despite the increase in birth subsidy, birth rates decreased.

For example, Jinan-gun, North Jeolla Province, raised the subsidy for the first and second childbirth from 1.2 million won to 3.6 million won in 2016.

However, the number of babies born in the county fell from 195 in 2015 to 147 in 2017.

As a result, some have started questioning if childbirth-related subsidies really lead to an increase in childbirth.

The Korea Institute of Health and Social Affairs (KIHSA) even evaluated that different maternity support systems by local governments are less related to the population growth of the country as a whole in a study published in 2019.

"Maternity support is a system that should be implemented by the central government rather than by local governments individually," the report read.