One out of seven couples infertile

By Kim Rahn

One out of seven married couples is sterile, according to a report.

The report by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs revealed Sunday that 13.5 percent of married couples failed to have a baby. The study was based on research conducted in 2003.

A couple is considered to be infertile if the wife fails to get pregnant despite having a normal sex life without using contraception for a year, the institute said.

The report also showed that 94.6 percent of women of sterile couples said they had serious psychological issues and depression stemming from infertility, with about 40 percent of them having disagreements with their husbands or in-laws.

“The nation needs to provide programs to support not only their physical but also mental health,” researcher Hwang Na-mi of the institute said.

For working wives, 91 percent of them had difficulty managing their work and getting assisted reproductive operations at the same time — 26.6 percent of them quit their jobs and 8.9 percent temporarily left their jobs.

“We presume many infertile working women have given up or delayed sterility remedies due to restrictions of time,” she said.

Sterile couples paid an average 4.45 million won ($3,998) per external fertilization operation, which was far more than the 3 million won subsidy from the government.

Although this is provided up to three times, about one third of the couples tried artificial insemination at least four times.

National health insurance covers several kinds of infertility treatment but not operations such as external fertilization.

“Most of these couples said the high operation costs are burdensome, but nearly 90 percent said they would keep trying until they have a baby. The government should increase assistance measures for sterile couples,” Hwang said.

The report added more and more people become infertile following late marriages, long-term contraception use, obesity, stress and environmental pollution, resulting in a low birthrate.

기혼부부 7쌍 가운데 1쌍 불임

우리나라 기혼부부 7쌍 가운데 1쌍이 불임으로 고통받고 있는 것으로 추정됐다.

불임이란 피임을 하지 않고 정상적인 부부생활을 하는데도 1년 이내 임신을 하지 못하는 경우를 일컫는다.

보건사회연구원 황나미 연구위원은 보건ㆍ복지 이슈앤포커스 최근호에 실은 ‘불임치료 여성의 신체적ㆍ정신적 및 사회경제적 부담 실태와 요구도’에서 “우리나라 기혼부부의 불임 발생률은 임신경험이 없는 일차성 불임의 경우 13.5%로 나타났다.”고 20일 밝혔다. 이는 2003년 표본조사자료를 토대로 추정됐다.

또 불임치료 중인 여성의 94.6%가 정신적 고통과 우울증이 심각하다고 답했다고 밝혔다. 아울러 취업 불임여성 불임치료를 받기 위해 사직한 여성은 26.6%, 휴직한 여성은 8.9%를 차지해 현재 사회활동을 하는 불임여성 상당수는 시간적 제약으로 불임치료를 포기한 것으로 추정된다고 보고서는 밝혔다.

불임여성의 치료의지는 높은 것으로 조사됐다.

불임여성들은 시술비용에 대한 경제적 부담을 크게 느꼈지만 86.4%가 출산할 때까지 계속 불임치료를 받겠다고 답해 정부의 불임지원정책이 절실한 것으로 분석됐다.