ABSTRACT This study examines the community‐level determinants of persistently low fertility across Seoul's districts, a pivotal case in the Asia‐Pacific demographic landscape. We advance a place‐based, community‐oriented framework by conceptualising fertility as a contextual outcome shaped by local institutional environments and collective social capital. Using Seoul's 25 districts as a bounded comparison, we analyse how social‐enterprise capacity and municipal ESG performance (Environmental–Social–Governance) intersect with socioeconomic conditions to foster higher fertility. Utilising a unique integrated dataset of national vital statistics, ESG evaluations and administrative records, we apply fuzzy‐set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). The analysis reveals no single necessary condition but identifies two sufficient pathways: (1) a synergy of robust environmental/governance performance and civic volunteering, which sustains fertility despite weaker marital and employment profiles; and (2) dense social‐enterprise ecosystems coupled with strong environmental/social performance that offset governance deficits in diversity‐intensive districts. These findings demonstrate equifinality, suggesting that effective demographic interventions require differentiated, place‐based policy mixes rather than monolithic, uniform strategies.
Seo et al. (Thu,) studied this question.