South Korea’s birth rate fell to the lowest in the world in 2020, then fell even further in 2021. But while the government keeps throwing money at the problem, its half measures have little hope of forestalling the coming demographic crisis.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon’s latest proposal to address chronic low fertility rates is representative of the government’s myopic approach to the issue: In a Facebook post on Sept. 27, the mayor said the country can alleviate the cost of raising children by hiring low-cost foreign nannies.