South Korea’s fertility rates are dropping

  • 📰 BDliveSA
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 62 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 28%
  • Publisher: 63%

Property Property Headlines News

Combination of sky-high costs of housing and education and strict social mores mean fewer women are having children and those who do are in no rush

An employee demonstrates the work process before freezing eggs in a fertility research lab at Cha Fertility Centre in Bundang, South Korea, on April 30 2022. Picture: REUTERS/HEO RAN

Lim was one of about 1,200 unmarried single women who underwent the procedure last year at CHA Medical Center — a number that has doubled over two years. CHA is South Korea’s largest fertility clinic chain with about 30% of the IVF market. The fertility rate — the average number of children born to a woman over her reproductive life — in South Korea was just 0.81 last year. That compares with an average rate of 1.59 for OECD countries in 2020.

“We hear from married couples and watch reality TV shows about how expensive it is to raise kids in terms of education costs and everything, and all these worries translate to fewer marriages and babies,” said Lim. “If I get married now and give birth, I can’t give my baby the kind of environment I had when I grew up...I want better housing, a better neighbourhood and better food to eat,” she said.

That needs to change, argues Jung Jae-hoon, a social welfare studies professor at Seoul Women’s University, noting marriages in South Korea dropped to a record low of 192,500 last year. That’s down about 40% from a decade earlier. Even when looking at marriage levels in 2019 to discount the effect of the pandemic, the decline is still a huge 27%.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

I'm really grateful for all the efforts you have render to me with my little investment of $7000 and with joy over me after withdrawing $70,000 with your help Williamchurch07 thank you for everything you have done for me and my family Williamchurch07

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 12. in PROPERTY

Property Property Latest News, Property Property Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

South Korea’s fertility rates are droppingCombination of sky-high costs of housing and education and strict social mores mean fewer women are having children and those who do are in no rush
Source: BDliveSA - 🏆 12. / 63 Read more »