Lights Out, Make Babies

(Seoul, South Korea) The South Korean government is taking action to address the nation's alarmingly low birthrate.

The Health Ministry has announced that it will be turning out the lights in its offices at 7:30 PM every third Wednesday in the month so staffers can "go home early and make babies."

'Going home early may have no direct link to having more kids, but you cannot just completely rule out a possible link between them,' Choi Jin Sun, who is in charge if the project at the ministry, told AFP.

Low birthrate is a pressing issue in this fast-ageing society. South Korea's birthrate - the average number of babies born during a woman's lifetime - remained near the world's lowest at 1.19 in 2008 and there are fears the population will begin shrinking within a decade.

'It won't be too long before our children are burdened with supporting the elderly,' Health Minister Jeon Jae Hee told the Korea Times newspaper.

'Korea may lose out in the global economic competition due to a lack of manpower. It is actually the most urgent and important issue the country is facing.' Married staff at the ministry are not doing their bit, with an average of 1.63 children compared to the average of 1.82 among all civil servants. The ministry aims to increase the figure to 2.0 in two years.

Low birthrates have been singled out as a major concern in other countries also.