▲ A visitor browses baby products at Mom & Baby Expo at COEX Magok in western Seoul on Aug. 6, 2026. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Yonhap) -- About seven out of 10 South Koreans regard having at least two children as ideal but many end up having just one due to financial burdens and other factors, a study showed Sunday.

According to a survey by the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy, 71 percent of respondents chose two or more as their ideal number of children.

The survey was conducted from Nov. 3 to 14 last year on 1,000 men and women between ages of 20 and 49.

When asked about the actual number of children they had or planned to have, 44.9 percent said one, with 27.1 percent responding two. Slightly over a quarter of them said zero.

On average, the ideal number of children came to 1.76 but the actual or expected number of children amounted to 1.07.

Permitted to pick multiple answers, every respondent who reported having fewer children than the ideal number cited costs as a key reason, while 40.4 percent pointed to challenges in balancing work and childcare.

On the flip side, people who had more children than their ideal number noted strong family support (37.5 percent) as the reason, followed by favorable work-life balance (22.5 percent).

"Basically, financial factors play a major role in childbirths, and additional births are increasingly affected by other complex factors such as policy support, childcare burden and career continuity," the committee's report said.

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