South Korea has the most birth rate in the world, but fertility clinics flourish

When she started in vitro fertilization (IVF) last November, Kim Mi -Ae knew it would be a grueling test of patience – something she had already endured when she thought of her first child three years ago.

But what shocked her this time were the “crazy” waiting for the fertility clinic.

“When I went in January, it was felt that everyone had made a New Year’s resolution to have a baby! Even with a reservation, I waited more than three hours,” says the 36-year-old Seoul resident.

While South Korea continues to fight the most birth rate in the world, fertility clinics are in a growing demand – a bright place in the country’s demographic crisis.

Between 2018 and 2022, the number of fertility treatment in the country increased by nearly 50% to 200,000. Last year, one of six babies were born in Seoul with the help of fertility treatment.

At the heart of the boom, according to experts, is a change in the attitude towards family planning.

“We have a younger generation … which is used to controlling his life,” says Sarah Harper CBE, a professor of gerontology at the University of Oxford. This control, she adds, can come in the form of lonely women freezing their eggs or couples, trying IVF when they cannot conceive.

“While in previous generations there were more acceptance that, whether you think or not, it can be a little gambling, now we have Korean women who say,” I want to plan my life. “

This is good news for the South Korea government, which is trying to expel the country from a demographic crisis. One in five people in South Korea is already 65 years or older. As part of the country’s total population, there have never been fewer babies.

The country has repeatedly broken its own record for having the most birth rates in the world: 0.98 babies per woman in 2018, 0.84 in 2020 and 0.72 in 2023. If this trend continues, experts warn that a population of 50 million can decrease in 60 years.

But recently there is a reason for cautious optimism: instead of another record low, the birth rate of South Korea increased slightly to 0.75 in 2024 – its first increase in nine years.

“This is a small bump, but still meaningful,” says Seoolki Choi, a professor at the School of Public Policy and Management of the Institute for the Development of Korea.

It is too early to say whether this is the beginning of such a reversal or just blip. The birth rate of the country remains far below the average for the global value of 2.2. But many like Dr. Choi are cautiously optimistic.

“If this trend is held, it can signal a longer-term change,” says Dr. Choi. “We need to watch how young people’s attitude towards marriage and parenting changes.”

For years, having children was the last thing in the mind of Su-in Park. She was mostly busy at work, often withdrawing only from her advertising work at 04:00.

“I was in a company with endless overtime, so I couldn’t even look realistically,” says the 35-year-old.

Things started to change after marrying two years ago. She did a new job with better hours – and friends around her began to have babies.

“Seeing and interacting with their children made it feel less compelling,” she said. “And as I watch my husband take initiative, doing research on pregnancy and childbirth, and by showing real efforts, he gave me confidence that we could do this.”

When the Park and her husband had problems with conception, they strived to treat fertility. Many others do the same, nourishing the predictions that the growing industry can cost more than $ 2 billion by 2030.

“This is actually an important signal for politicians that there are still some women who want to start families but are facing … barriers before it,” says Jennifer Skiuba, president and executive director of the Non -Profit Population Reference Bureau in Washington, Columbia District.

“More than all this is a sign that people are unable to fulfill their desires to have children.”

The difficult conceive is just one barrier. At the heart of the population of South Korea, woes are a number of social and financial pressure – from patriarchal norms that put most responsibilities for children’s care for women to women to Long hours and High education costs – who discourage many young people to have children.

For some, however, these dreams just slow down. More than half of the South Koreans say they want children, but they can’t afford them, according to a UN report. And by a time when South Korean women have their first child, their average age is 33.6 – among the highest in the world.

“Looking back, it may have been better to get started earlier,” says G -ja Park. “But realistic … now it is actually feeling the right moment. At the end of my 20s, I just didn’t have the financial capacity to think of marriage or children.”

The same applies to Da Kim, who spent three years, saving four more for a child.

“People spend their youth in learning, hunting and spending money to prepare for life. And by the time they are ready to settle down, it’s often late,” she says. “But the later you wait, the more difficult it becomes (to become pregnant), physically and emotionally. “

For those who choose IVF, the process of experience of conception is also much more expensive.

“It’s hard to say exactly how much IVF costs, because it varies so much from a person and a cycle,” says G -Ja Kim. “This is a huge and unpredictable expense that can really affect your finances.”

As part of the agreed efforts to increase its birth rate, the South Korea government has expanded its support for the treatment of fertility. Now Seoul subsidizes up to 2 million Korean won ($ 1.460; 1,100 British pounds) to reduce eggs and 1.1 million wins for each IVF treatment.

But even with government subsidies, d -kim says she has spent more than 2 million won in January for IVF-most for items outside the pocket that subsidies do not cover, such as supplements and additional tests.

And with less than half of IVF cycles ending with success, Costs can be arranged quickly.

This is the case with Jang Sae-Lyeon in the southwestern Jeolla province. The 37-year-old started treating fertility two years ago and made five IVF cycles, each costing her about 1.5 million wins.

“I wish things would be made only after one or two attempts, but for most people it is not the case,” she says. “Without money, you just can’t move on. It’s reality. And I think it’s the most deriving part.”

Just as challenging, women say, are the pressure in the workplace they face when engaging in a demanding schedule of IVF.

While South Korean companies offer a few days of fertility treatment, women say it is really difficult to use them. D -Ja Kim says she has suffered an IVF for her first child without leaving at all. Meanwhile, G -Jan says her colleagues asked her to postpone her treatment.

“It made me feel like IVF and full-time work they just don’t mix,” says Mrs. Gian. “And so I gave up. But after I left, I fought financially. It again led to another cycle of quitting and hunting for work.”

Such financial and cultural pressure may have reduced the dreams of many South Koreans to have children, but not at Gi Gian. She still becomes tears when she remembers two pregnancies from the beginning of her marriage – both ended with miscarriage.

“Do you know how they say when you have a child, you feel love that is boundless?” She says. “I think that having a child who looks like us and the creation of a family together is one of the largest forms of happiness that one can feel.”