By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

It takes about 230 million won to bring up a child from the cradle to university graduation in Korea, a state-run think tank said Tuesday. It represents a 16.8 percent rise from 198 million won in 2003.

The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs made the estimate after its survey of 6,787 households with children under 18 years of age last year.

The costs include spending for education, clothing, health and welfare, transportation, entertainment and other household expenses.

For a child from birth to six years old, 49.5 million won was needed. For an elementary school student, middle and high school student, and university student, 56.5 million, 67.2 million and 58.6 million won was needed, respectively.

The largest hike was made for collegians. While it took only 48 million won to support one in 2003, the amount jumped by 21 percent in three years.

The institute said that if a student studies one more year for another university entrance examination or goes abroad for language or learning, the parents shoulder a greater financial burden.

The portion of money used for entertainment or buying household apparatus increased while transportation, telecommunication and clothing costs decreased during the same period.

Meanwhile, a so-called polarization was found in the survey. Families with less than 990,000 won of monthly income spent 541,000 won a month for children while those with more than five million won spent more than 1.5 million won.

``The survey shows that society is getting pricier and more difficult for parents to have children. Unless we cut down private tuition fees and support parents through and tax cuts, the country's birthrate will constantly decline,'' Kim Seung-kwon of the institute said.

bjs@koreatimes.co.kr