Baby car seats are displayed at a baby fair in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on Feb. 20.NEWS1
Less than 3 percent of the National Pension Service’s (NPS) childbirth credit program beneficiaries are women, but the government is still seeking to expand the contribution period.
There were 9,999 recipients of childbirth credits as of the end of 2025, according to the NPS on Monday. Of them, 9,727, or 97.3 percent, were men, while just 272, or 2.7 percent, were women.
The childbirth credit program grants additional contribution periods to National Pension subscribers who give birth or adopt a child. The program increases the amount of pension benefits they can eventually receive.
Starting this year, 12 months are credited for each of the first two children, and 18 months for each child from the third onward. The previous cap of 50 months has also been abolished. The government is seeking to further increase the credit for a second child from 12 months to 15 months.
The number of childbirth credit recipients rose from 2,067 in 2020 to 5,037 in 2023 and 7,048 in 2024, before approaching 10,000 last year.
Despite the program's expansion, its benefits have remained concentrated among men. The number of female recipients increased by 60 percent last year, from 170 a year earlier. However, their share of all recipients edged up just 0.3 percentage points, from 2.4 percent to 2.7 percent.
The disparity stems largely from the timing of the childbirth credit. Rather than adding the credited period immediately after childbirth, the program applies the credit decades later, when a parent becomes eligible for an old-age pension — which requires a minimum 10-year contribution period under the National Pension system.
If both parents are National Pension subscribers, they can agree to allocate the entire credit to one parent. If they do not reach an agreement, the credit is divided equally between them. As a result, the credits are believed to have disproportionately gone to men, who generally have longer National Pension contribution histories.
A newborn baby is seen at a hospital in Goyang, Gyeonggi, on Nov. 26, 2025.YONHAP
Many female subscribers, meanwhile, have historically experienced career interruptions due to childbirth and child care, which have left them unable to meet the minimum National Pension contribution threshold. Those who fail to meet the basic eligibility requirements cannot benefit from childbirth credits.
As a result, the very program intended to help close the pension coverage gap for women has left many of them behind.
The National Pension Research Institute found a similar disparity in the past.
Of 5,947 recipients as of June 2024, 5,815 were men and 132 were women, according to a report by the National Pension Research Institute. This puts the share of male recipients at 97.8 percent.
The institute also found insufficient empirical evidence that childbirth credits actually raise birthrates and said the program lacks clarity over whether its primary goal is to encourage childbirth or reduce gaps in pension coverage.
Calls are therefore growing for the system to shift from simply extending credited periods to a model in which pension contribution periods are credited at the time of childbirth.
Critics have also called for changes to the program’s funding structure, including an increase in the government’s current 30 percent share of costs, since a significant portion of childbirth support is financed through the NPS.
BY RHEE ESTHER [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
