Outgrowing the age of average

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Outgrowing the age of average

Published: 02 May. 2025, 00:05

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Jung Sun-ean

The author is the leader of the Parents team at the JoongAng Ilbo.

More and more people are choosing to open their wallets for one thing: growth hormone injections — direct administration of synthetic hormones aimed at increasing height. According to data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, the number of individuals prescribed growth hormone treatments rose from 12,500 in 2020 to 34,881 last year — a 2.8-fold increase. And even that figure is only the tip of the iceberg: It accounts only for patients receiving coverage for medically diagnosed growth hormone deficiencies. In fact, during last year’s National Assembly audit of the Health and Welfare Committee, lawmakers found that roughly 97 percent of growth hormone prescriptions in 2023 were not covered by insurance — effectively prescribed as “height enhancement drugs.”

Height comparison of the average height of Korean children and adolescents. [KOREAN AGENCY FOR TECHNOLOGY AND STANDARDS]

There is a reason the market has expanded. The effects are visible and side effects are minimal. Specialists interviewed during reporting acknowledged that while studies remain limited for patients without diagnosed conditions, the results are hard to ignore. “In idiopathic short stature cases — children who are simply short without any known medical cause — two years of treatment typically leads to an average height increase of 5 centimeters [2 inches],” one doctor said. Growth hormone does not stay in the body long and does not accumulate, meaning adverse effects are rare and, when they do occur, are usually reversible upon stopping treatment.

Ultimately, the decision to undergo growth hormone injections comes down to two questions: Can I afford 20 million won ($14,000) for two years of treatment? And is 5 centimeters of height worth 20 million won? The first is a personal matter; the second is deeply social. It touches on the perceived value of “average.” Most children receiving the injections are shorter than average — or have shorter-than-average parents — and are brought to the hospital in hopes of catching up. Parents interviewed for this story often said things like, “We just wanted our child to reach the average,” or “They’ve now grown a little taller than average.”

But is the average really worth that much? Todd Rose, a former professor at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and author of “The End of Average,” argues that the very concept of “average” is a fiction. This is not a moral stance — it’s a practical one. In the 1940s, a spate of U.S. Air Force accidents was eventually traced to cockpit designs based on the average body measurements of 4,000 pilots. Not one of them actually matched that average. The result was widespread dysfunction.

Even so, average mattered in an era of standardization and mass production. But that era is behind us. We now live in the age of personalization — an era made possible by technology. Google seems to know what we want before we do, serving us eerily accurate ads. Netflix curates content so tailored to our tastes that it can feel unsettling. This is why Rose champions so-called “dark horses” — individuals who succeed not despite their atypical paths, but because of them.

Growth hormone injections [JOONGANG ILBO]

Still, personal decisions are often shaped by social pressures. In a society obsessed with averages, how well will children raised under such pressures navigate an age that prizes individuality? As a member of the older generation — and as a parent — that question cuts deeply.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.