Seoul to subsidise vasectomy reversals in bid to boost Korean births

SEOUL – Seoul plans to offer financial support to residents seeking to reverse vasectomies or tubectomies in the latest step aimed at boosting birth rates as a dwindling population threatens the long-term vitality of the South Korean capital.

Seoul will offer each citizen up to one million won (S$990) to help ease the financial burden of the medical procedure for couples who want a child, according to a statement from the city on May 28.

A total of 100 million won has been set aside for the programme that marks the first of its kind in Seoul. It is part of a broader 1.5 trillion won extra budget that the authorities have submitted to the city Parliament, it said.

While South Korea has the world’s lowest fertility rate at 0.72

, the situation is especially dire in Seoul, where every group of 100 women is estimated to produce only 55 babies over their collective lifetimes – the lowest among all major cities.

In a separate statement, the national statistical office said on Tuesday that Seoul is projected to see its population fall to 7.9 million by 2052 from 9.4 million in 2022.

City authorities are already offering

financial support for egg freezing

and infertility treatments to help stem the decline in births. Mayor Oh Se-hoon told Bloomberg TV earlier in 2024 that Seoul would “mobilise all available policies” to boost the population, including launching a matchmaking programme.

A variety of factors are blamed for the

reluctance among South Koreans to have babies

, including high costs of living and a lack of affordable housing. President Yoon Suk-yeol said earlier in May in a nationally televised address that his administration plans to launch a new ministry dedicated to dealing with the fertility crisis.

South Korea used to encourage vasectomies in the 1970s to 1980s due to fear that the population increase could get out of hand. Bloomberg