Nurses take care of newborn babies at a postnatal care center in Seoul, Feb. 28. Yonhap

A growing number of Koreans in their 20s and 30s are actively considering starting families, cautiously raising hopes that the nation's demographic crisis, exacerbated by the alarmingly low birthrate, could be resolved in the near future.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family released the findings after surveying people aged 12 or older across 12,044 households nationwide from June 1 to July 31.

Korea's total fertility rate plummeted to a new quarterly low of 0.65 in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to Statistics Korea.

The family ministry's survey also revealed a rising trend in the proportion of younger generations where husbands and wives equally share child care and household chores, although many women still bear a significant burden.

The survey indicated that 27.6 percent of respondents in their 30s and 15.7 percent of those aged 30 or younger expressed their willingness to have children, marking an increase of 9.4 percentage points and 6.8 percentage points respectively from three years ago.

On the other hand, the survey found that among those in their 30s, 44.4 percent were unwilling to have children, while among those aged 30 or younger, the figure stood at 19 percent. This represents a decrease of 10.3 percentage points and 13.5 percentage points, respectively.

Among the respondents aged between 40 and 50, 5.2 percent were willing to have children, up 1.1 percentage points.

The respondents willing to have children said they want to have 1.5 kids on average, the same as three years ago.

The survey also showed that women continue to bear a heavier burden regarding child care and domestic chores. However, there is an emerging trend among young couples, with an increasing number opting to share these responsibilities equally.

The ratio of wives taking full charge of housework stood at 73.3 percent, compared to 1.4 percent of husbands.

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The ratio of husbands and wives sharing house chores stood equally at 25.3 percent. It stood at 56.4 percent for couples aged 30 or younger and 44.1 percent for couples in their 30s.

However, the ratio stood at 25.7 percent for couples in their 40s, 20.2 percent for those in their 50s, 18.8 percent for those in their 60s and 18.6 percent for those in their 70s.

A similar pattern was seen when it came to sharing child care responsibilities, with women still bearing the majority of the work, albeit with some improvements noted compared to three years ago.

When the ministry inquired about the extent to which husbands and wives share the responsibility of caring for children aged 12 or younger, the proportion of equal sharing increased across nine categories, including managing children's studies and spending time playing with them.

However, the majority of responsibilities such as meal preparation, getting ready to go out and taking children to hospitals when they are sick were predominantly shouldered by women. A significant 78.3 percent of wives took full charge of such tasks. This figure increased slightly from 77.3 percent three years ago.

There was an increase in the proportion of couples who engaged in conversations with their spouses for 30 minutes to two hours, while the ratio of those who reported minimal communication or less than 30 minutes of conversation decreased.

"The low birthrates and aging population have changed family structures and created new service demands," Vice Minister of Gender Equality and Family Shin Young-sook said.

"We will swiftly and flexibly respond to these new demands to align with the government's goal of realizing a society where no one is marginalized."