Maternity Hospitals Disappear While Pet Clinics Boom

Published on 2015/03/22 | Source

Today's changing lifestyle has sent the number of maternity hospitals dropping but that of animal hospitals skyrocketing.

Many maternity hospitals are going out of business amid falling birthrates, while the pet industry is booming with the increasing number of single households.

According to data released by the National Tax Service on Wednesday, the number of maternity hospitals fell 8.4 percent, or 170, to 1,639 between 2008 and 2013 nationwide. In contrast, there were 494, or 17.4 percent, more pet clinics over the same period for the number to reach 3,326.

The data, meanwhile, shows that half of the 1,301 plastic surgery clinics across the nation were in Seoul. And 70 percent of the clinics in Seoul were clustered in the affluent Gangnam area