The commercial industry is booming globally surrogacyas more and more people or couples resort to this method to have children.

Dilara, a 34-year-old widow, left her four children with her parents in Uzbekistan and went to work in Tbilisi.

She earns a living from various jobs, from hairdressing to maintenance. But, as she says, the only job she wants to do is carry other people’s children, in Growing Surrogacy Industry in Georgia.

“I have bank loans, I have four children who have school and expenses. It’s hard to be alone,” she tells CNBC.

What is surrogacy?

Dilara is one of a growing number of women turning to commercial surrogacy as a Source of income against the backdrop of growing global demand for this type of childbearing.

OUR paid surrogacy this refers to an arrangement in which a woman is paid to bear another person’s or couple’s child, and differs from its altruistic version where the woman volunteers to perform her reproductive functions without payment.

Commercial surrogacy only deals with pregnancy, which means that a surrogate mother not genetically related with the child she is carrying.

The legal framework for this practice differs from country to country. For example, in the US, the method is allowed in some states and banned in others, while in Canada and the UK, only altruistic surrogacy is allowed. On the other hand, in Georgia, as well as in Ukraine and Russia, both versions of the method are legal.

The growing surrogacy industry

According to consulting company Global Market Insights, the value of the global commercial surrogacy industry is estimated at $14 billion in 2022 – although exact amounts are difficult to verify given the personal and therefore confidential nature of many transactions.

By 2032, that figure is projected to jump to $129 billion as fertility problems are expected to worsen and many more same-sex couples will be looking for ways to have a baby.