□ KoPHWA has announced the results of the “2025 2nd Parenting Empathy Campaign,” conducted in September among parents of twins (and multiple-birth families, including during pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare).

Survey Overview

▶ Participants: Parents raising twins
▶ Survey period: September 10–29, 2025
▶ Topic: Parenting stress and support needs among parents of twins
▶ Method: Online survey
▶ Respondents: 718 participants

○ According to Statistics Korea, the proportion of multiple-birth infants among all births in Korea reached 5.7% in 2024, nearly triple the rate of 1.7% in 2000.

○ The “2nd Twin Parenting Empathy Campaign” aimed to understand parenting stress and support needs among families with twins, seeking to alleviate psychological and emotional challenges and to support policy development tailored for these families. The survey instrument was based on the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education’s Korea Early Childhood Education & Care Panel questionnaire.

□ The key findings are as follows:

○ Participant Profile

- Gender: Women(63.6%), Men(36.4%)

- Age: 30s (66%), 40s (25.1%), 20s (6.7%), 50+ (2.2%)

○ Primary Caregivers and Parenting Environment

- Ages 2–3 (29.9%) were most common, followed by 12–23 months (28.1%), 0–11 months (16.8%), ages 4–5 (14.1%), and 6+ years (11.1%).

- Primary caregivers were Mothers (75.6%) followed by grandparents (9.6%), and fathers (9.1%), followed by public babysitters, private childcare helpers, and relatives.

- More respondents disagreed (25.1%) than agreed (18.5%) with the statement “Korea provides a good environment for raising twins.”

○ Parenting Stress

- The biggest source of stress was “financial burden of childcare” (67.3%), reflecting the significant economic pressure of raising multiple children simultaneously.

- More than half (50.9%) agreed that “parenting would be much easier with only one child,” revealing the practical difficulties of raising twins.

- 44.1% reported feeling guilt, believing their children’s emotional anxiety was “their fault.” And One in four respondents (27.3%) said they were “not confident they can be good parents,” indicating high emotional strain and low confidence among parents of twins.

○ Social Support

- While 60.6% reported having someone to look after their children in emergencies, the overwhelming majority relied on parents-in-law or their own parents (79.9%), followed by relatives (13.8%). Use of public childcare services such as babysitters was extremely low at 3.4%.

- Emotional support was also limited: although 82.2% said they had someone to rely on when feeling lonely, 17.8% still had no emotional support network.

○ Time-Related Childcare Support Policies

- Actual usage rates of time-related childcare policies were “Parental leave” (68.4%), “family care leave” (40.9%), and “reduced working hours during the childcare period” (34.7%).

○ Direction of Childcare Support Policies

- The most important policy priority was “strengthening systems enabling at-home care” (37.5%), while the most needed policy support was “financial assistance” (25.3%)

- Regarding twin parenting, “childcare and education costs” (45.3%) were identified as the greatest burden, highlighting the need to reduce actual childcare costs for twin families and expand policies enabling work–life balance and direct caregiving.

□ President Lee Samsik stated, “This survey clearly shows the real challenges faced by parents of twins. KoPHWA will continue working closely with institutions within the Twin Family Happiness Network to provide practical support and assistance to families raising twins.”

Latest Updates

44.1% of Twin Parents Blame Themselves for Their Children’s Emotional Anxiety: Results of the 2nd “Twin Parenting Empathy Campaign” Survey