Children go to school at an elementary school in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap

Koreans' total spending on private education hit an all-time high in 2024, as parents spared no expenses for their children to survive in the pervasive competition that shows no signs of letting up despite a population decline, government data showed, Thursday.

According to the data, compiled jointly by Statistics Korea and the Ministry of Education, the total spending on private after-school classes for primary, middle and high school students reached 29.2 trillion won ($20.07 billion) in 2024.

The 2024 figure shows Korea once again broke its own record concerning private education expenditures for the fourth consecutive year.

The figure dropped in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic but bounced back to 23.4 trillion won in 2021, before climbing to 26 trillion won in 2022 and 27.1 trillion won in 2023.

Spending on private education in 2024 increased 7.7 percent from the year before, whereas the total number of primary, middle and high school students decreased 1.5 percent from 5.21 million to 5.13 million during the same period.

The proportion of students who participated in private education inched up 1.5 percentage points year-on-year to 80 percent last year, marking the highest level ever recorded in the time relevant data has been compiled.

For elementary school students, the participation rate came to 87.7 percent, and those for middle and high schoolers came to 78 percent and 67.3 percent, respectively.

"Parents are willing to spend more on each child to make them better prepared as competition in society is getting more tense," a Statistics Korea official said.

The official pointed out that average monthly spending on private education per student rose 9.3 percent year-on-year to 474,000 won in 2024, which is an all-time high.

When taking into consideration those who actually enrolled in private education programs, the per-month expenses came to 592,000 won, marking a 7.2 percent year-on-year increase.

The data showed that households with higher incomes spent more on private education.

The households with average monthly income exceeding 8 million won spent 676,000 won per child every month, compared to 205,000 won spent by those with average monthly income at 3 million won or less.

Preschoolers also under heavy private education

The private education fever appears to have spread to preschoolers, as 47.6 percent of 13,241 surveyed families with children aged 6 or younger paid for private education in 2024, according to the education ministry.

The rate came to 24.6 percent for those aged 2 or younger, 50.3 percent for those aged 3 and 81.2 percent for those aged 5 or older.

On monthly average, parents spent more than 300,000 won for each child in the corresponding age group.

The expense was far higher, amounting to 1.54 million won per month, for sending a child to an "English kindergarten," which is actually a type of private academy focusing on English lectures.

Kim Ji-ae, a mother of two toddlers, urged the government to curb excessive competition across all levels of the society.

"I can't believe that the competition is getting heated at a time when there are fewer people to compete with," Kim said.

According to the education ministry, uncertainties concerning administrative policies on college entrance, such as the government's flip-flopping on the medical school quota and planned overhaul of the 2028 entrance exam, have unnerved parents.

A ministry official explained that the government, on the other hand, has been making efforts to ease the stressful education environment, referring to its push to remove "killer questions" from college entrance exams and to have more questions based on public school curriculum.

"We'll thoroughly analyze the causes of the higher spending on private education," the official said.