VOA慢速英語：韓國生育率逐年降低

VOA慢速英語：韓國生育率逐年降低

In South Korea, fewer women are having children.The high costs of housing and education make financial security a necessity.Social customs also dictate that a woman should be married before having a baby.
在韓國，越來越少的女性要孩子。住房和教育的高成本使經(jīng)濟保障成為必要。社會習(xí)俗也規(guī)定女人應(yīng)該先結(jié)婚再生孩子。
 
Lim Eun-young, a 34-year-old public servant, says she is not financially ready to start a family.She and her boyfriend are not married.They have been dating for just a few months.But Lim is worried about getting older and how that might affect her chances for pregnancy.So, in November, she had doctors remove some of her eggs and freeze them for possible use later.
34歲的公務(wù)員林恩英說，她在經(jīng)濟上還沒有準(zhǔn)備好成家。她和她的男朋友還沒有結(jié)婚，他們才交往了幾個月。但他隨著年齡的增長，可能會影響懷孕的機會。因此，在11月，她讓醫(yī)生取出了一些卵子冷凍起來，以備以后使用。
 
Lim was one of about 1,200 unmarried women who underwent the operation last year at CHA Medical Center.In 2019, the number of patients for the same treatment was about 600.CHA is South Koreas largest fertility business, accounting for about 30 percent of the market.
林是去年在CHA醫(yī)院接受卵子冷凍術(shù)的1200多名未婚女性之一。2019年是600人。CHA是韓國最大的生育企業(yè)，約占30%的市場份額。
 
"Its a big relief and it gives me peace of mind to know that I have healthy eggs frozen right here," she said.
她說：“想到在這里冷凍了健康的卵子，我松了一口氣，倍感安心。”
 
Freezing eggs to gain reproductive time is an option increasingly explored by women worldwide.And, South Korea has one of the worlds lowest fertility rates.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 among developed countries in 2020.The countries are members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, or OECD.
冷凍卵子以延長生育時間是世界各地女性越來越多人去嘗試的一種選擇。而且，韓國是世界上生育率最低的國家之一。去年，韓國女性在整個生育周期內(nèi)平均生育子女的數(shù)量僅為0.81個。相比之下，發(fā)達國家2020年的平均生育率為1.59。這些國家都是經(jīng)濟合作與發(fā)展組織(OECD)的成員。
 
The South Korean government provides special assistance to families with children.The government budgeted $37 billion last year for policies aimed at increasing the countrys birth rate.
韓國政府為有孩子的家庭提供特殊援助。政府去年撥出370億美元預(yù)算用于提高國家出生率的政策。
The low birth rate is blamed largely on South Koreas highly competitive and costly education system.Many children are pushed into high pressure schools and private lessons from a young age.
韓國的低出生率在很大程度上被歸咎于高競爭力和昂貴的教育體系。許多孩子在很小的時候就被迫進入壓力很大的學(xué)校和私教課程。
 
"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.
林說：“我們從已婚夫婦那里了解到一些信息，從電視真人秀節(jié)目里也看到了撫養(yǎng)孩子的教育費用和其他一切費用是多么昂貴，所有這些擔(dān)憂都導(dǎo)致了婚姻和孩子的減少。”
Housing costs have also shot up.An average apartment in Seoul, for example, costs an estimated 19 years of South Koreas median yearly household earnings, up from 11 years in 2017.
住房成本也大幅上漲。例如，首爾一套普通公寓的成本估計要花費19年韓國家庭年收入中間數(shù)，高于2017年的11年。
 
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.
計劃在今年7月冷凍卵子的CHA醫(yī)院護士趙小英(32歲)也希望在生孩子之前經(jīng)濟狀況能有所改善。
 
"If I get married now and give birth, I cant 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.
“如果我現(xiàn)在結(jié)婚生子，我就不能給我的孩子提供我長大時的那種環(huán)境……我想要更好的住房，一個更好的社區(qū)，和更好的食物，”她說。
 
But even when finances are less of a consideration, being married is seen as required before having children in South Korea.Just two percent of births in South Korea are to unmarried parents, compared to an average of 41 percent for OECD countries.
但在韓國，即使經(jīng)濟因素不那么重要，結(jié)婚也被視為生孩子之前的必要條件。在韓國，只有2%的新生兒是未婚父母生的，而經(jīng)合組織國家的平均比例為41%。
 
In fact, only married women in South Korea are permitted to receive a medical fertilization process.Single women are barred under the law.
事實上，在韓國，只有已婚女性才被允許接受醫(yī)學(xué)受精。根據(jù)法律，單身女性是被禁止的。
 
Sayuri Fujita, a Japanese celebrity based in South Korea, recently brought the issue to light.The unmarried star had to go back to Japan when she decided to get pregnant without a partner.
居住在韓國的日本名人藤田小百合最近曝光了這個問題。當(dāng)她決定在沒有伴侶的情況下懷孕時，這位未婚女星不得不回到日本。
 
That needs to change, argues Jung Jae-hoon, a professor of social issues at Seoul Womens University.She said marriages in South Korea dropped to a record low of 192,500 last year.That is down around 40 percent from ten years ago.Even when looking at marriage levels in 2019 to discount the effect of the pandemic, the drop is still a huge 27 percent.
首爾女子大學(xué)社會問題教授鄭在勛認為，這種情況需要改變。她說，去年韓國的結(jié)婚率降至創(chuàng)紀(jì)錄的19.25萬。這比十年前下降了大約40%。即使不考慮疫情的影響，看看2019年的婚姻水平，降幅仍然高達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.
他說：“至少政府能做的是不要妨礙那些愿意支付生孩子費用的人。”
 
Even more worrying is the sharp drop in South Koreans willingness to have children at all.
更令人擔(dān)憂的是，韓國人的生育意愿急劇下降。
A study in 2020 found that 52 percent of South Koreans in their 20s do not plan to have children when they get married.That is a massive jump from 29 percent in 2015.South Koreas gender and family ministry carried out the study.
2020年的一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在20多歲的韓國人中，有52%的人在結(jié)婚時不打算生孩子。相比2015年的29%，這是一個巨大的飛躍。韓國性別與家庭部開展了這項研究。
 
Im Ashley Thompson. And Im Caty Weaver.
阿什利·湯普森和凱蒂·韋弗聯(lián)合報道。