Check the 2026 Parental Benefit and Child Allowance Amounts and Application Deadlines

How much is the Parental Benefit each month?

The amounts the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced in January 2026 are the same as the previous year's.

To use daycare or full-day child care, you apply separately for the infant childcare fee or child care service, apart from the Parental Benefit. The guidance says the Parental Benefit for a child raised at home is paid on the 25th of each month, and the difference for a child in daycare is paid on the 20th of the following month.

By when do you have to apply for the Parental Benefit?

If you apply within 60 days of the birth date, you receive it backdated to the month of birth. After that deadline the backdating range can change, so the safest approach is to apply at the same time as you register the birth. The guidance doesn't say when payment starts after 60 days, so check with your administrative welfare center or at 129.

Who gets the Child Allowance, and how much?

Since April 2026 the age of eligibility has risen from under 8 to under 9, and the guidance says it will go up by one year every year through 2030, until it covers children under 13. The amount depends on where you live.

If a depopulation area pays in local gift certificates under an ordinance or similar rule, KRW 10,000 is added. It's best to confirm with your city, county or district office which category your home falls in.

What happened to the Child Allowance that stopped because of age?

For children born from January 2017 to March 2018 whose birthday passed before the law changed and whose Child Allowance stopped, the guidance said the unpaid amounts from January 2026 would be backdated and paid in one lump sum in April. Children whose payment information is confirmed are paid on the government's own authority, with no separate application. That backdated payment schedule has already passed. If a child has never received it, you need to apply as a new applicant through Bokjiro or your neighborhood administrative welfare center.

Where do you apply?

You can apply for the Parental Benefit in any of these three places.

• Visit a neighborhood administrative welfare center anywhere in the country
• Apply online on Bokjiro
• Apply online on Gov24

You can apply for it in one go along with the birth registration. If you are receiving the Child Allowance for the first time, apply on Bokjiro or at an administrative welfare center. The documents needed can vary with your family makeup and your relationship to the child, so checking before you go cuts down on wasted trips.

What is easy to mix up before you apply?

The Parental Benefit and the Child Allowance are separate programs, so their amounts and age ranges are set separately. These three are especially easy to miss.

• A family with an infant should check both the Parental Benefit (under 2) and the Child Allowance (under 9).
• Using daycare changes the actual cash amount of the Parental Benefit.
• Amounts and age ranges can change every year, so don't read the figures in this article as a promise of payment.

Where can you ask questions?

For the Parental Benefit, you can contact the Ministry of Health and Welfare call center at 129 or your city, county or district office, and you can check your application on Bokjiro. No dedicated contact is listed for the Child Allowance, so your administrative welfare center or 129 is the fastest option. The date checked is 2026-10-08, so look at the latest guidance from the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Bokjiro for later changes.