Survey Overview

Participants: 1,000 pregnant women, 1,000 general public (Total of 2,000)
Period: October 31 ~ November 12, 2025
Topics: Experience of support for pregnant women, level of practice of consideration for pregnant women, etc.
Method: Online panel survey using structured questionnaires (48 questions for pregnant women, 33 questions for the general public)

□ Korea Population Health and Welfare Association(KoPHWA) conducted and announced the results of the "2025 Survey on Awareness and Practice of Consideration for Pregnant Women," which surveyed total of 2,000 including pregnant women and the general public.

○ During pregnancy, women may experience physical and mental difficulties due to hormonal changes, such as morning sickness, excessive fatigue, and depression. In particular, it is difficult to identify early-stage pregnant women by appearance, so consideration from others is needed.

○ Against this backdrop, KoPHWA conducts this annual survey to assess gaps between perceived and actual levels of consideration, evaluate the overall state of pregnancy-friendly practices in society, and promote a culture of everyday consideration for pregnant women.

□ Key Findings

○ Experiences of Consideration (Given vs. Received)

- While 82.6% of the general public reported having shown consideration to pregnant women, only 56.1% of pregnant women stated that they had actually received such consideration.

* Perception Gap between Pregnant Women and the General Public: 2025: 26.5%p, 2024: 10.4%p

- The perception gap widened by 16.1 percentage points year-on-year, indicating that goodwill and intentions among the general public are not sufficiently translating into experiences felt by pregnant women.

- Notably, 75.2% of women in early pregnancy responded that they were not considered because their pregnancy was not visually apparent.

- This highlights the continued need for visible identifiers and stronger social awareness that encourages proactive consideration.

○ Experiences of Consideration in the Home, Workplace, and Daily Life

【Home】

- The area in which pregnant women reported receiving the most consideration at home—and the area in which they reported needing the most help—was sharing household chores, ranking first in both categories.

- However, 30.4% cited a lack of understanding of the physical and emotional changes associated with pregnancy as a negative experience within the household, representing an increase of 1.8%p from the previous year.

* 2024: 28.6%

- This suggests that awareness and understanding of pregnancy-related changes among family members remain insufficient.

【Workplace】

- The most common form of consideration received by pregnant employees at work was flexible commuting hours (39%), which was also identified as the most needed measure (50%). This underscores flexible working hours as a key factor in enabling pregnant women to remain employed.

- The most frequently reported negative workplace experience was feeling pressure or concern about the reactions of supervisors and colleagues (41%), indicating that even where formal systems exist, employees may feel hesitant to use them freely.

* Pressure or concern about the reactions of supervisors and colleagues (41%) > Disadvantages in personnel decisions: 22.9% > Lack of understanding of physical/emotional changes: 22% > Excessive workload: 20.7%

- Meanwhile, 75.2% of pregnant employees reported having used maternity protection policies.

* Reduced working hours during pregnancy: 80.3% > Time off for prenatal medical checkups: 62% > Maternity leave before and after childbirth: 47.4%

- Among the 24.8% who were unable to use such policies, the most common reason (45.8%) was that their job type or employment status did not allow it (e.g., self-employed, non-regular workers, freelancers). This points to the need for maternity protection policies that cover diverse forms of employment.

【Daily Life】

- In daily life, offering seats on public transportation showed high responses both in pregnant women’s actual experience rate (31.3%) and the general public’s perceived necessity of such consideration (62.1%), indicating a well-established awareness of priority seating.

- However, the significant gap between awareness and actual experience demonstrates that recognition has not yet translated into consistent practice.

- The most prevalent negative daily-life experience reported by pregnant women was smoking on the street, cited by 82.2%, an increase of 20.5 percentage points from the previous year.

- As street smoking directly affects not only pregnant women but also fetal health, this issue extends beyond personal inconvenience and calls for stronger social consideration and public safety measures.

○ Use and Perception of Priority Seats for Pregnant Women

- The usage rate of priority seats among pregnant women was 79.5%, down from 92.3% in the previous year.

- Meanwhile, 60.9% reported feeling uncomfortable when using priority seats, up from 42.4% the year before, suggesting insufficient empathy and practical consideration from surrounding passengers.

* Reasons for discomfort: Seats not being vacated: 90.3%

* Reasons for not using priority seats: Feeling like a burden to those seated: 21% > Feeling uncomfortable due to others’ stares: 9.3% > General seats being more comfortable: 6.3% > Not wanting to visibly signal pregnancy: 4.9%

- Both pregnant women (69.3%) and the general public (68.6%) agreed on the need to keep priority seats vacant, suggesting strong potential for improvement through ongoing awareness campaigns.

○ Awareness and Use of the Pregnancy Emblem

- Awareness of the pregnancy emblem rose year-on-year, reaching 92.6% among pregnant women and 77% among the general public. However, only 52.2% reported receiving consideration after wearing the emblem, indicating that while recognition has spread, actual considerate behavior remains limited.

- This indicates that while public awareness of the emblem has expanded through priority seat signage on public transportation and related campaigns, psychological burden associated with using the emblem and a lack of actual considerate behavior persist.

○ Overall Level of Pregnancy-Friendly Practice

- The general public rated the overall level of pregnancy-friendly practice in society at 69.1 points, an increase of 6.2 points from the previous year. In contrast, pregnant women rated it at 64.9 points, a 2-point decrease.

- These results clearly demonstrate the continued gap between a society that believes it is being considerate and pregnant women who do not sufficiently feel that consideration in their daily lives.

□ Since 2015, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, KoPHWA has continuously promoted pregnancy-friendly campaigns across transportation facilities and through partnerships with the KBS Announcers Association to foster respect and voluntary consideration for pregnant women.

○ This year, in particular, KoPHWA developed Workplace Guidelines for Supporting Pregnant Employees and conducted offline in-house campaigns with employees of Namyang Dairy Products Co., Ltd., expanding pregnancy-friendly practices beyond daily life into corporate and organizational culture.

□ President Dr. Lee Samsik stated, “The findings clearly show that while social awareness of consideration for pregnant women is improving, a significant gap remains between that awareness and the level of consideration actually felt by pregnant women.” He added, “Everyday inconveniences such as the use of priority seats on public transportation and exposure to street smoking cannot be resolved through policy alone. Changes in public awareness and consistent everyday practice are essential.” He concluded by saying, “KoPHWA will continue to create an environment in which pregnant women are naturally protected and respected—without having to ask for special assistance.”

Latest Updates

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