Both parents must be 24 or younger and household income must fall at or below 65% of median
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced Monday that it will provide 250,000 won ($187) per child per month in child-rearing support to teen parents aged 24 or younger.
The program was designed to ease the burden on young parents who struggle to balance raising children with schoolwork and employment. Teen parents, under the program's definition, are couples in which both the mother and father are 24 or younger.
A 2023 study on the status of teen parents and child-rearing support found that among 402 teen parents surveyed, 79.7 percent cited the financial burden of child-rearing as a concern, while 62.7 percent said they had difficulty knowing how to raise a child.
According to the Ministry of Statistics' child household statistical registry, the number of teen-parent households nationwide stood at 2,345 in 2022, 1,987 in 2023 and 1,688 in 2024.
Any teen-parent household that maintains a marital relationship — including common-law marriage — is actively raising children and has an income at or below 65 percent of the median (3.48 million won per month for a three-person household and 4.22 million won for a four-person household) is eligible to apply.
To apply, parents must visit the community service center in their registered district of residence with the following documents: a copy of their resident registration, a family relations certificate (or marriage certificate), proof of income or a factual certificate submitted separately by both the mother and the father, and a copy of a bank account.
For more information about the program, applicants can call the family counseling hotline at 1577-4206.
Minister Won Min-kyung said the ministry plans to ease the income requirement to 66 percent of the median starting in 2027 to expand eligibility. "We will actively promote policy information so that every teen parent in need of support can receive benefits without exception," she said.
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