"I'll give you 2 million won if you freeze eggs from next year."Will It Help Low Birth Rate?

Yonhap News Agency

Amid the serious problem of population decline due to low birth rate, the project to support the cost of the "frozen egg" procedure is expected to expand nationwide from next year.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare recognizes the need for egg freezing support to preserve fertility and plans to implement it as a new project starting next year.

The project was implemented for the first time in the country in August last year by North Chungcheong Province.

The egg freezing procedure is a method of preserving fertility used when a healthy woman's egg is collected in advance and stored frozen, and then used when she wants to become pregnant in the future.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare provides up to 2 million won for women and up to 300,000 won for men, including freezing reproductive cells (suspended sperm and eggs) and initial storage costs. In addition, up to 2 million won will be provided if frozen germ cells are used for actual pregnancy.

If 20 eggs are cryopreserved between the ages of 34 and 37, the probability of giving birth to more than one child in the future is reported to be more than 80%.

Meanwhile, women who are concerned about infertility are often inquiring about egg freezing due to the recent delay in their first marriage, and female broadcasters such as Song Hae-na, Lee Ji-hye, Sayuri, and Ahn Young-mi have confessed their experience of egg freezing.

Reporter Park Sun-young of Digital News Team