Cataract surgery topped South Korea’s list last year as C-sections rose 10%

Cataract surgery was the most frequently performed operation in South Korea last year, according to the National Health Insurance Service’s 2025 Surgical Statistics Yearbook.

The report counted 2,151,941 procedures across 35 major categories, a 4.8% increase from the previous year. Cataract surgery accounted for 692,126 procedures. General spinal surgery followed with 199,147, while cesarean deliveries ranked third at 177,232.

Cesarean procedures increased 10.2% in one year after the government removed patients’ out-of-pocket payments, putting them on the same footing as natural childbirth for insurance purposes.

Medical costs for the 35 categories reached 10.6738 trillion won, up 14.7% from a year earlier. General spinal surgery generated the highest total bill, at 1.0161 trillion won, followed by percutaneous coronary intervention, commonly known as stent insertion, at 1.0033 trillion won, and cataract surgery at 907.4 billion won.

The average cost per operation rose 9.5% to 4.96 million won. Heart surgery had the highest average cost, at 48.08 million won per procedure.