Child care is expensive everywhere. But this country tops the list

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South Korea tops the list of most expensive places to raise a child from birth to age 18, measured as a percentage of per capita gross domestic product, according to research from Jefferies (JEF) which used data from Yuwa Population Research. GDP is the broadest measure of a nation’s economic activity.

China comes in second, followed by Italy. The United States is wedged in the middle of the top 14 most expensive places, between Germany and Japan.

However, in terms of the absolute amount of money spent, China is one of the cheapest places to have kids. But it’s all relative: “If we then adjust that data to percentage of average disposable income, China becomes the most expensive place to raise kids,” said the Jefferies researchers.

A big part of it is the cost of education and the cost and availability of care when the child is in their younger years. Pre-school services in China have been mostly private until recently, according to Jefferies.

It takes more than $75,000 to raise a child until the age of 18 in China, and another $22,000 to get them through university.

While that sounds like much cheaper tuition than students in the United States might face, there’s a key difference: “In many other Western countries, a student loan provided by state is more common, and the burden is lifted from parents and transferred to children themselves,” the Jefferies analysts said.

In America, for example, 55% of undergraduate students graduated with debt in the 2019-2020 academic year, according to data from the College Board.

What the government can do

Lawmakers have plenty of options to reduce the cost of having children, including subsidizing child care to limit the gap between people in different income classes.

Beijing is already stepping in to make after-school tutoring more accessible. Next on the list could be the cost of nursery and kindergarten, the Jefferies analysts think.

“We understand that the government is seeking to either have the state provide these services…

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Source : cnn