By Cynthia Kim

SEOUL (Reuters – In South Korea, fewer mothers are getting children. Those who have aren’t in a hurry are also less likely to get pregnant. Financial security is essential due to the skyrocketing costs of education and housing. You must also be married because of social pressures.

Lim Eunyoung, 34, is a public servant. She says that the high costs of starting a family and her relationship with her boyfriend, who she has been dating for several months, are reasons she doesn’t want to. However, her biological clock was ticking and she had her eggs frozen in November.

Lim was one among approximately 1,200 unmarried, single women who received the treatment at CHA Medical Center in December 2013. This figure has increased by more than two-fold over the past year. CHA South Korea is the largest fertility clinic chain and holds about 30% of South Korea’s IVF market.

She said, “It’s huge relief and gives me peace-of-mind to know that my eggs are healthy.”

Women are increasingly exploring the option of freezing eggs in order to purchase reproductive time. South Korea is a country with one of the most low fertility rates. This means that women are increasingly exploring the possibility of freezing eggs to buy reproductive time.

In South Korea, the fertility rate, which is the average number children a woman has given birth to over her lifetime, was 0.81 in 2017. This compares to the 1.59 average fertility rate for OECD nations in 2020.

This is despite the huge amounts of money spent last year by South Korean officials on subsidy and other perks for children’s families. To address the low birthrate, 46.7 trillion won (or $37 billion) was allocated by the government last year.

South Koreans are reluctant to have children. This is partly due to a competitive education system. Most kids in South Korea start school at a very young age and find tutors and cram schools a way of life.

Lim said, “We listen to married couples talk about the high cost of raising children and we watch reality TV. All these concerns translate into fewer marriages.”

Also, housing costs are on the rise. The average Seoul apartment, which costs approximately 19 years, is now worth about 11 years more than it was in 2017.

Cho So-Young is a 32 year-old nurse at CHA. She plans to store her eggs in the freezer this July. However, she also wants to be financially independent before having a baby.

“It’s impossible to give my child the environment that I had growing up. I don’t want them getting married and having children now. I need better housing and a better neighborhood. I also want better food.” she stated.

Even though finances may not be a concern, marriage is considered a requirement for having children in South Korea. Only 2% of South Korean births occur in a couple, compared with 41% of OECD countries.

Although single South Korean mothers can freeze eggs, it is illegal to legally donate sperm or implant embryos. This was brought to the attention by Sayuri Fujita (a Japanese star and single mother who was based in South Korea) and forced to return to Japan to sperm donor.

Jung Jaehoon is a professor of social welfare studies at Seoul Women’s University. He argues that this must change. Jung Jae-hoon noted last year that South Korean marriages fell to an all time low of 192,500. This is a drop of around 40% compared to ten years ago. The decline in marriage is significant even if you take out the effects of the pandemic.

He stated, “The government cannot do more than to help those who want to have a child.”

More concerning is the drop in desire to have children.

A survey done by South Korean gender and family ministry in 2020 found that 52% don’t expect to have children in their 20s. That’s a huge jump from the 29% who did it in 2015.

($1 = 1,276 won)