South Korea's Fertility Clinics Boom as Families Struggle to Have Children

More Treatment, Fewer Births

South Korea recorded about 200,000 fertility procedures in 2022, nearly 50% more than in 2018. In Seoul, one in six babies born in 2024 was conceived with fertility treatment. Yet the country still has the world's lowest fertility rate, despite a small increase from 0.72 children per woman in 2023 to 0.75 in 2024.

Those numbers describe two connected pressures. Many people are postponing parenthood while they study, build careers and seek financial security. When they feel ready, getting pregnant can be harder, increasing demand for medical help even as the number of children born across the country remains low.

Kim Mi-ae, a 36-year-old resident, recalled waiting three hours at a fertility clinic despite having a reservation. She described the scene as "crazy." Clinics in Seoul are drawing hopeful couples and single women, while the fertility industry is projected to be worth more than $2 billion by 2030.

As of July 11, 2025, South Korea also has tentative signs of a broader recovery in births. Marriages have been increasing, and April brought an 8.7% rise in births compared with a year earlier. Government subsidies, expanding treatment options and changing attitudes toward parenthood are all part of the picture.

The central challenge reaches beyond the clinic. Treatment can help people conceive, but families still face expensive housing, demanding jobs, education costs and unequal responsibilities at home. For some women, pursuing pregnancy means risking the income they need to raise a child.

South Korea's experience brings these pressures into the same frame: a growing business helping people become parents, alongside a society in which many struggle to make room for children.

Why Parenthood Is Being Postponed

South Korean women now marry for the first time at an average age of 31.6 and have their first child at an average age of 33.6, among the highest ages in the world. Younger generations are putting education, careers and financial stability ahead of marriage and children. Parenthood is often postponed rather than abandoned.

Park Soo-in, a 35-year-old advertising professional, spent her twenties working hours that left little room to consider marriage or children. A job with better hours, followed by seeing friends become parents, helped her and her husband decide to pursue fertility treatment.

Park explained how those experiences, and her husband's involvement, changed her confidence:

Seeing and interacting with their kids made it feel less overwhelming," she says. "And watching my husband take initiative, doing research on pregnancy and childbirth and showing real effort, gave me confidence that we could do this.

Sarah Harper, professor of Gerontology at the University of Oxford, described a generational shift toward wanting more control over when and how to become a parent:

We have a young generation that is used to being in control of its life. That control may come in the form of single women freezing their eggs or couples trying IVF when they can't conceive. Whereas in previous generations there was a greater acceptance that whether you conceive or not can be a bit haphazard, now we have Korean women saying, 'I want to plan my life.'

Egg freezing and in vitro fertilization, or IVF, offer different ways to pursue that control. IVF involves fertilizing an egg outside the body before placing an embryo in the womb. Egg freezing preserves eggs for possible use later. Both have become more attractive as people delay starting families, although treatment brings costs and uncertainty.

A Small Rebound After Years of Decline

South Korea's total fertility rate fell from 0.98 in 2018 to 0.72 in 2023 before rising to 0.75 in 2024, its first increase in nine years. The measure estimates how many children a woman would have over her lifetime if current birth patterns continued.

The 2024 figure remains far below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman, the level needed to sustain the population. Experts warn that continued demographic decline could see South Korea's population of about 50 million halve within 60 years.

The recent sequence shows both the depth of the decline and the modest scale of the recovery:

• 2018: The fertility rate stood at 0.98 children per woman.
• 2018 to 2022: Fertility procedures increased by nearly 50%, reaching about 200,000 annually.
• 2023: The fertility rate fell to 0.72.
• 2024: The rate increased to 0.75, the first rise in nine years.
• April 2025: Births rose 8.7% from a year earlier, the fastest monthly increase in 34 years.

Park Hyun-jung, director of population trends at Statistics Korea, identified several contributors to the rebound:

Increase in marriages, a larger population of women in their 30s, and a more positive perception of having children all appear to be contributing to the recent rebound.

Marriages have risen for 13 consecutive months. Because childbirth outside marriage remains rare in South Korea, unlike in many Western countries, that increase is an important signal for future births. The relatively large generation born in the early 1990s, known as the echo boomers, is also reaching the ages when many people have children.

Officials and experts remain unsure whether the increase marks a lasting reversal or a temporary fluctuation. Deaths still exceed births. South Korea has also joined Japan as a super-aged society, meaning more than 20% of its population is over 65.

Wanting Children and Affording Them

More than half of South Koreans want children but feel unable to afford them, according to a United Nations report. High living costs, expensive housing, intense competition over education and long working hours all contribute to people postponing parenthood or deciding against it.

Women face additional pressure because traditional gender roles leave them doing most childcare and household work, even as more women pursue higher education and careers. Workplaces can be unsupportive of mothers, while taking parental leave can carry stigma or threaten career prospects.

Jang Sae-ryeon, who quit her job while undergoing IVF, described the conflict between attending treatment and earning a living:

It made me feel like IVF and a full-time job just don't mix. So I quit. But once I left, I struggled financially. That led to another cycle of quitting and job-hunting again.

Her experience connects the cost of treatment with the conditions under which people receive it. Leaving work may create time for medical appointments, but losing income makes the next round harder to fund. Finding another job can restore earnings while bringing back the difficulty of fitting treatment around work.

Park Soo-in's experience points to another part of the same problem. Better working hours helped her consider parenthood, while her husband's research and involvement made the prospect feel more manageable. Money mattered, but so did time and confidence that care would be shared.

The Price of Trying Again

Government support includes subsidies of up to 2 million won, about $1,460, for egg freezing and 1.1 million won for each IVF cycle. Supplements, additional tests and repeated attempts can still leave patients with substantial bills.

Success rates are below 50% per cycle, meaning many couples undergo treatment several times. A cycle is one round of treatment, so a quoted price for a single attempt may cover only part of a family's eventual spending.

Jang has undergone five IVF cycles costing 1.5 million won each. She described money as an immediate limit on continuing:

Without money, you simply can't move forward. That's the reality. And I think that's the most frustrating part.

Jang has also suffered two miscarriages. Despite the financial and emotional strain, she still wants a child and spoke about what creating a family means to her:

I think having a child that resembles both of us and creating a family together is one of the greatest forms of happiness a person can feel.

What the Government Is Offering

South Korea's government has declared the low birth rate a "national emergency" and invested more than $200 billion in measures intended to encourage births over the past two decades. Those measures include cash payments for newborns, subsidized housing for newlyweds, expanded parental leave and support for fertility treatment.

Local governments are also experimenting with ways to reduce the cost of starting a household. Jeju Island has introduced public rental housing for newlyweds costing less than $30 a month, directly targeting one of the financial pressures surrounding marriage and family formation.

President Lee Jae Myung has made demographic recovery a central concern of his administration. His proposals include generous loans for newlyweds, expanded child allowances and tax reforms intended to support families. The government is also launching a ministry dedicated to population strategy to bring its efforts together.

These policies address different stages of family life. Housing assistance targets the expense of establishing a home. Fertility subsidies help with attempts to conceive. Child allowances and parental leave support families after a baby arrives.

Hong Sok-chul, an economist at Seoul National University, argued that government action also needs to reach the social conditions affecting decisions about children:

There needs to be effort to solve structural social problems.

Those problems include gender inequality, the difficulty of balancing work and family, and high education and housing costs. Many women say cash payments cannot compensate for a workplace that penalizes mothers or a society that places too little value on caregiving.

Women still account for 72% of people taking parental leave, while barriers to advancement at work remain formidable. The 4B feminist movement, which rejects traditional expectations around dating, marriage and childbearing, is also gaining traction among young women. That resistance adds another challenge to government efforts built around encouraging marriage and births.

Egg Freezing Keeps an Option Open

Egg freezing procedures in South Korea have more than tripled since 2019, helped by government subsidies. For women who want children later, preserving eggs can offer reassurance while they continue careers, studies or other parts of their lives.

Lee Chae-rin described how freezing her eggs fitted with her wish to pursue personal interests before settling down:

"Maybe it's just because I really enjoy my life right now. But I think people naturally want to follow their passions—whether it's studying, working more, or pursuing hobbies. For me, it's surfing," she says.

Access to later treatment is narrower than the ability to freeze eggs. Most fertility clinics require a marriage certificate before beginning IVF, while sperm donation and surrogacy remain illegal. Consequently, heterosexual married couples are the group able to benefit fully from the technology, leaving single women with restricted options.

Jeong Yeon-bo, a social sciences professor at Sungkonghoe University, questioned whether expanding egg freezing addresses the reasons people delay or avoid parenthood:

The cause of the low birth rate is that young people are experiencing challenges including wealth inequality, sexism, long working hours, and insufficient child care support. But [egg-freezing] doesn't tackle these underlying problems—it merely offers a medical solution to the problem,

Egg freezing and IVF therefore occupy a specific place in the response to falling births: they offer medical help to people trying to preserve or use their chance of pregnancy. The pressures Jeong identified concern whether people can afford children, find time to care for them and share that care fairly.

What Comparisons Abroad Suggest

Japan, China and many Western countries also face aging populations and declining birth rates. South Korea's difficulties form part of a wider demographic shift, although its fertility rate is the world's lowest.

France has the highest fertility rate in the European Union, supported in part by generous parental leave, affordable childcare and a culture that supports working mothers. Denmark's flexible working culture and more equal attitudes toward gender have also helped maintain higher fertility rates.

These comparisons draw attention to support that continues throughout family life. Treatment assists with conception, while childcare, leave and workable schedules affect the years of care that follow. South Korea's debate includes both sets of needs.

Experts suggest policies promoting gender equality, a better balance between work and family, and lasting support for parents. Immigration is another possible response to population decline, although it remains politically sensitive.

The Choices Behind the National Numbers

South Korea's rise in births and marriages offers cautious optimism, while busy fertility clinics show how strongly some people want children. Government experimentation and investment are expanding support, but families continue to weigh treatment costs, careers, housing and expectations about who will provide care.

Kim Mi-ae, whose clinic visit involved a three-hour wait, described how preparing for adult life can consume the years when having children may be easier:

People spend their youth studying, job hunting, and spending money to prepare for life. And by the time they're ready to settle down, it's often late. But the later you wait, the harder it gets [to become pregnant], physically and emotionally.

Her account helps explain why expanding fertility services and reducing barriers to parenthood belong in the same discussion. Medical help matters to those already trying. Working conditions, financial security and shared caregiving shape when people feel ready to begin.

Key Points

• South Korea's fertility rate rose from 0.72 in 2023 to 0.75 in 2024, its first increase in nine years, but remained the world's lowest.
• Fertility procedures grew nearly 50% between 2018 and 2022, reaching about 200,000 annually. One in six Seoul babies born in 2024 was conceived with treatment.
• Later marriage, demanding jobs, housing and education costs, and unequal caregiving responsibilities complicate plans for children.
• Subsidies help pay for treatment, but repeated IVF attempts can bring substantial costs and force difficult employment decisions.
• Egg freezing has more than tripled since 2019, while access to subsequent fertility treatment remains restricted.
• Births rose 8.7% in April 2025 compared with a year earlier, but deaths still exceed births and more than 20% of the population is over 65.
• Government support includes housing, parental leave, fertility subsidies and proposed financial measures, alongside calls for changes to working life and gender roles.