The aging of essential medical specialists responsible for deliveries and pediatric care outside the greater Seoul area is accelerating. Six in 10 pediatricians and eight in 10 obstetricians and gynecologists were 50 or older. Medical workers in the regions say the shortage has gone beyond a lack of specialists to the point where there are no staff left to train junior doctors.
According to data submitted by the office of lawmaker Kim Seon-min of the Rebuilding Korea Party on the 12th from the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA), the number of pediatricians working at medical institutions nationwide totaled 6,367 as of the end of April. Of these, 3,472 (54.5%) were 50 or older, exceeding half. Those under 40 accounted for only 14.4%.
Aging was more severe outside the greater Seoul area. Excluding Seoul, Gyeonggi and Sejong, the share of pediatricians 50 or older averaged 61.9%. South Jeolla was highest at 70.5%, followed by Jeju (68.6%), North Gyeongsang (67.0%), North Jeolla (64.2%) and North Chungcheong (64.0%).
Only Sejong (74.3%) and Seoul (54.5%) had a majority of specialists in their 30s and 40s.
The situation was more serious in obstetrics and gynecology. Of 6,015 obstetricians and gynecologists nationwide, 4,205, or 69.9%, were 50 or older. Outside the greater Seoul area, this ratio climbed to 78.5%.
In North Gyeongsang, 92.9% of obstetricians and gynecologists were 50 or older, the highest in the country. It was followed by South Jeolla (88.1%), North Jeolla (86.8%), South Gyeongsang (85.8%) and North Chungcheong (83.5%). Seoul (60.1%), Gyeonggi (64.6%) and Sejong (55.6%) showed a large gap.
The aging of specialists is creating gaps in regional maternal and child health care. Recently, at Jeonbuk National University Hospital, concerns were raised about disruptions in operating the regional maternal and neonatal medical center's neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) after Professor Kim Jin-gyu, who had overseen the NICU, resigned.
Most teaching specialists who train junior doctors are also concentrated in the greater Seoul area. According to the Ministry of Education's 2025 faculty performance registration data, of 886 pediatric teaching specialists nationwide, 603 (68.1%) work in Seoul and Gyeonggi.
Concentration in the capital area was even more pronounced in neonatology. Of 200 teaching specialists, 97 were in Seoul and 37 in Gyeonggi, with 134 (67.0%) clustered in the metropolitan area. North Jeolla had three, while North Chungcheong and Jeju had two each.
On the ground, there is concern that supporting individual hospitals or raising fees alone will not solve the problem.
The Korean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology recently said at a policy forum that the current obstetric care crisis is a structural problem in which obstetricians, neonatologists, beds and transfer systems are all being shaken at once. The society proposed building a regional maternal and child care center network and introducing a so-called "regional essential medical service duty system," along with expanding faculty, so specialists can work stably at regional base hospitals.