It costs around 300 million won ($263,000) to raise a child through college in South Korea, a government report showed Wednesday.

The report from the Ministry of Health and Welfare is based on a 2012 survey of 18,000 households throughout the country, in which the respondents said they were spending an average of 1.19 million won a month on each child.

The amount marks a significant growth from 748,000 won per month in 2003 and also from little over 1 million won tallied in 2009, according to the ministry.

The report said the amount included family expenses, such as housing expenses and utilities, adding that the amount spent solely on a single child still came to an average of 687,000 won per month.

Such a high cost of child rearing has been blamed as one of the major reasons for the country’s low birth rate, which dipped to a record low of 1.08 per woman in 2005.

“The government plans to launch a special task force of government and civilian experts to set up comprehensive measures that can provide support for births and child raising,” a ministry official said.

“In addition, the government will seek to achieve its target birth rate by increasing its financial support.” (Yonhap News)