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In South Korea, fewer women are having children.
在韩国，生孩子的女性越来越少。
The high costs of housing and education make financial security a necessity.
高昂的住房和教育成本使得经济保障成为必要。
Social customs also dictate that a woman should be married before having a baby.
社会习俗也规定，女性应该在生孩子之前结婚。
Lim Eun-young, a 34-year-old public servant, says she is not financially ready to start a family.
34岁的公务员林恩英说，她在经济上还没有准备好组建一个家庭。
She and her boyfriend are not married.
她和她的男朋友还没有结婚。
They have been dating for just a few months.
他们才交往了几个月。
But Lim is worried about getting older and how that might affect her chances for pregnancy.
但林恩英担心自己年龄越来越大，可能会影响她怀孕的机会。
So, in November, she had doctors remove some of her eggs and freeze them for possible use later.
因此，在11月，她让医生取出了她的一些卵子，并将它们冷冻起来，以备日后使用。
Lim was one of about 1,200 unmarried women who underwent the operation last year at CHA Medical Center.
林恩英是去年在CHA医疗中心接受此类手术的大约1200名未婚女性之一。
In 2019, the number of patients for the same treatment was about 600.
2019年，接受同类手术的患者数量约为600人。
CHA is South Korea's largest fertility business, accounting for about 30 percent of the market.
CHA是韩国最大的妇产科医院，约占30%的市场份额。
"It's a big relief and it gives me peace of mind to know that I have healthy eggs frozen right here," she said.
她说：“这让我松了一口气，知道我在这里冷冻了健康的卵子，这让我很安心”。
Freezing eggs to gain reproductive time is an option increasingly explored by women worldwide.
为延长生育时间而冷冻卵子越来越成为全世界女性的一种选择。
And, South Korea has one of the world's lowest fertility rates.
韩国是世界上生育率最低的国家之一。
The average number of children born to a woman over her reproductive life in South Korea was just 0.81 last year.
去年，在适育年龄内，韩国女性平均生育子女数仅为0.81。
That compares with an average rate of 1.59 among developed countries in 2020.
相比之下，2020年，发达国家的平均生育率为1.59。
The countries are members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD.
这些国家都是经济合作与发展组织的成员。
The South Korean government provides special assistance to families with children.
韩国政府为有孩子的家庭提供特别援助。
The government budgeted $37 billion last year for policies aimed at increasing the country's birth rate.
韩国政府去年推出370亿美元预算用于提高该国出生率的政策。
The low birth rate is blamed largely on South Korea's highly competitive and costly education system.
韩国的出生率之所以低，很大程度上是因为韩国竞争激烈、教育成本高。
Many children are pushed into high pressure schools and private lessons from a young age.
许多孩子从小就被迫进入压力很大的学校和参加私人课程。
"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.
林恩英说：“据我们从已婚夫妇那里所听说的以及从真人秀节目上所看到的，从教育成本等方面来说，抚养孩子的费用很高，所有这些担忧导致了更少的人结婚和生孩子”。
Housing costs have also shot up.
住房成本也大幅上涨。
An average apartment in Seoul, for example, costs an estimated 19 years of South Korea's median yearly household earnings, up from 11 years in 2017.
例如，首尔一套普通公寓的价格约为韩国中等收入家庭19年年收入的总和，高于2017年的11年年收入的总和。
Cho So-Young, a 32-year-old nurse at CHA who plans to freeze her eggs this coming July, is also hoping to get in a better financial position before having a child.
CHA医院的护士赵素英（32岁）打算在今年7月冷冻她的卵子，她也希望在生孩子之前自己的经济状况更好。
"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 neighborhood and better food to eat," she said.
她说：“如果我现在结婚生子，我就不能给我的孩子提供我长大时的那种环境……我想要更好的住房、更好的社区和更好的食物”。
But even when finances are less of a consideration, being married is seen as required before having children in South Korea.
但在韩国，即使不太考虑经济因素，结婚也被视为生孩子之前的必要条件。
Just two percent of births in South Korea are to unmarried parents, compared to an average of 41 percent for OECD countries.
在韩国，只有2%的新生儿是未婚父母生的，而经合组织国家的平均比例为41%。
In fact, only married women in South Korea are permitted to receive a medical fertilization process.
事实上，在韩国，只有已婚女性才被允许接受医学受精。
Single women are barred under the law.
法律禁止单身女性接受医学受精。
Sayuri Fujita, a Japanese celebrity based in South Korea, recently brought the issue to light.
居住在韩国的日本名人藤田小百合最近曝光了这个问题。
The unmarried star had to go back to Japan when she decided to get pregnant without a partner.
当这位未婚明星决定在没有伴侣的情况下怀孕时，她不得不回到日本。
That needs to change, argues Jung Jae-hoon, a professor of social issues at Seoul Women's University.
首尔女子大学社会问题教授郑载勋认为，这种情况需要改变。
She said marriages in South Korea dropped to a record low of 192,500 last year.
她说，去年韩国的结婚人数降到了创纪录的19.25万对。
That is down around 40 percent from ten years ago.
这比十年前下降了大约40%。
Even when looking at marriage levels in 2019 to discount the effect of the pandemic, the drop is still a huge 27 percent.
即使不考虑疫情的影响，与2019年相比，降幅仍高达27%。
"The least the government can do is to not get in the way of those out there who are willing" to pay the costs of having a baby, he said.
他说，政府至少可以做的就是不要妨碍那些愿意“支付生育费用”的人。
Even more worrying is the sharp drop in South Koreans' willingness to have children at all.
更令人担忧的是，韩国人的生育意愿急剧下降。
A study in 2020 found that 52 percent of South Koreans in their 20s do not plan to have children when they get married.
2020年的一项研究发现，在20多岁的韩国人中，有52%的人在结婚时不打算生孩子。
That is a massive jump from 29 percent in 2015.
与2015年的29%相比，这是一个巨大的飞跃。
South Korea's gender and family ministry carried out the study.
韩国性别和家庭部开展了这项研究。
I'm Ashley Thompson. And I'm Caty Weaver.
阿什利·汤普森、凯蒂·韦弗为您共同播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
