Average Postpartum Care Center Stay 12.6 Days with '2.87 Million Won' Cost... Increased by 430,000 Won in 3 Years

Survey of 3,221 Mothers in 2023
Taking Region, Age, and Other Factors into Account

Last year, 8 to 9 out of 10 mothers used postpartum care centers, spending an average of 12.6 days and 2.87 million KRW on expenses. The cost of postpartum care center expenses increased by 18% over three years.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare released the results of the 2024 Postpartum Care Survey conducted from September 30 to October 12 last year. This is the third survey since the first one in 2018. Last year, the ministry surveyed a total of 3,221 mothers who gave birth in 2023, considering region, age, and other factors.

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The places mothers chose for postpartum care (multiple responses allowed) showed that postpartum care centers were the most common at 85.5%. Next were their own homes (84.2%), maternal homes (11.2%), and paternal homes (1.0%) in that order.

The usage rate of postpartum care centers has been increasing every year: 75.1% in 2018 and 81.2% in 2021. However, the preference for postpartum care centers as the preferred place for care decreased from 78.1% in the previous survey to 70.9% last year. Following that, own home (19.3%) and maternal home (3.6%) were preferred. Satisfaction by location showed little difference, but satisfaction with care at paternal homes and postpartum care centers was highest at 3.9 points. This was followed by own home (3.6 points) and maternal home (3.5 points).

The average postpartum care period was 30.7 days. It was longest at own home (22.3 days), followed by maternal home (20.3 days), paternal home (19.8 days), and postpartum care centers (12.6 days). Compared to the previous survey in 2021, the postpartum care period at home decreased (own home: 26.8 days → 22.3 days, maternal home: 23.7 days → 20.3 days), but the care period at postpartum care centers increased slightly from 12.3 days to 12.6 days.

Last year, mothers spent an average of 2.865 million KRW at postpartum care centers during the care period. Spending at postpartum care centers increased by about 10% from 2.207 million KRW in 2018 to 2.431 million KRW in 2021. This survey showed a 17.9% increase over three years.

On the other hand, postpartum care costs at home decreased by 14.9% from 958,000 KRW in 2018 to 815,000 KRW in 2021, then surged by about 50% to 1.255 million KRW last year.

Every year, the majority of mothers answered that government financial support is most needed. In last year’s survey, 60.1% of mothers chose financial support as the government policy needed for satisfactory postpartum care (multiple responses allowed). However, this rate decreased compared to the previous survey in 2021 (75.6%).

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Among the policy alternatives chosen by mothers, including financial support, many fluctuated in each survey. The response rates for expanding maternity leave (10.5% → 20.8% → 25.9%) and activating parental leave systems (8.4% → 13.3% → 16.9%) increased steadily.

In fact, among mothers who were employed just before childbirth (82.0% of all), only 58.1% took maternity leave and 55.4% took parental leave according to last year’s survey. These figures decreased by 5.7 percentage points and 1.2 percentage points respectively compared to the 2021 survey. Meanwhile, the usage rates of spouses’ maternity leave (55.9%) and parental leave (17.4%) increased.

Kim Sang-hee, Director of Population and Child Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "We were able to confirm policy demands not only for postpartum care cost support but also for institutional support such as activating spouses’ parental leave and expanding maternity leave periods for mothers and spouses."

In last year’s survey, the highest proportion of mothers who thought their health was good (good + very good) was during pregnancy (49.4%). The lowest proportion who thought their health was good was during the postpartum care period (30.8%). Mothers cited uncomfortable symptoms during postpartum care such as lack of sleep (67.5%), pain at wound sites (41.0%), nipple pain (35.4%), and depression (20.0%).

68.5% of mothers experienced postpartum depression after delivery. The average duration of experience was 187.5 days after delivery, and 6.8% were actually diagnosed with postpartum depression.

Mothers most often named their spouse (57.8%) as the person who helped relieve postpartum depression. This was followed by friends (34.2%), family members other than the spouse (23.5%), and medical professionals or counselors (10.2%).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.