The demand for egg freezing in Taiwan has increased; women aged 35 to 39 are opting for the technology, up 86% over the past three years, as per the National Taiwan University Hospital research study.
Single women allowed to freeze their eggs in Taiwan but can only legally use eggs to conceive if in a heterosexual marriage.
According to a Reuters report, the Founder of Taiwan’s first egg bank- Stork Fertility Centre, Dr Lai Hsing-Hua, pointed out that new patients in its two clinics have surged 50 % year-on-year, and the clinic helped over 800 women freeze their eggs.
The surge also came after two local governments, Hsinchu and Taoyu, started subsidising egg freezing this year. Approximately 8% of women used their eggs after frozen, compared with around 38% in the United States, as per doctors in Taiwan.
Egg freezing is difficult for a woman having an average annual salary of less than $19,000. The treatment costs $2,600 to $3,900 for the extraction, medication and clinic visits and $160 to $320 in annual storage fees. Taiwan has a fertility rate of 0.89 children per woman, less than half the replacement level of 2.1.