opinion

Many countries are facing serious population problems, including fertility decline and population aging, due to economic inequality, difficulty of getting jobs, unstable living conditions and the like.

The UNFPA set “Empowering young people to create the families they want in a fair and hopeful world” as the theme for this year’s World Population Day (July 11).

In our country a stable socio-economic environment has been created for young people to make homes and procreate and bring up many children.

Various measures of preferential treatment have been taken for families with more than three children, including the preferential allocation of dwelling houses and the provision of special subsidies according to the number of children.

The state takes full charge of the upbringing of children as it daily supplies them with dairy products free and upgrades childcare conditions and environment.

The country has established a medical service system whereby people freely receive maternity care including antenatal, delivery and postnatal care and various kinds of reproductive health services and constantly consolidated the material and technical foundations of the public health sector.

Multiple births are regarded as an auspicious event in the country and women are encouraged to produce and raise many children.

Quintuplets, the first of their kind in the country, left the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, which all the Korean women call their “parents’ home”, on June 19 this year amid the blessings of many people and the 562nd triplets of the hospital left it the following day.

Prolific mothers are held in high esteem as mother heroines and the national conference of mothers is held in splendour.

On the occasion of World Population Day this year, activities will be conducted to motivate people to honour the women who give birth to many children and bring them up well and give wide publicity to the importance of solving the population problems.