Updated : 2025-12-10 12:47:40 KST
The elderly population is growing and with the number of those under 30 that choose to stay unmarried, or marry late, the number of single-person households continues to rise in South Korea with more than eight million people living alone last year. Lee Eun-jin reports. Government data based on an annual survey released on Tuesday showed that in 2024 there were 8-point-05 million single-person households in South Korea. People living by themselves made up around 36 percent of all households, making them the largest household category.
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Statistics Korea defines single-person households as one person who lives alone, earns their own income, cooks for themselves, and sleeps alone, a complete independent unit. Almost 20 percent of these single-person households were aged 70 or older, while 17-point-8 percent were aged 29 and under, making it the second consecutive year where the number of older single households exceeded the younger group. The increase in elderly single-person households has also led to increased demand for welfare services.
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With more than 60 percent of single-person households employed, the average annual income of people who live alone came to 34-point-23 million won, that's roughly 23-thousand-288 U.S. dollars. While this was a 6-point-2 percent jump from the previous year, it still stood at just 46-point-1 percent of the overall average income of all households. Single-person households have become the most common form of households in Korea recently, increasing in proportion by approximately 1 percentage point each year since it first exceeded 30 percent in 2019.
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Figures for 2024 showed an increase of zero-point-six percent in the proportion of single-person households compared to the previous year, with the proportion of two-person households also rising by point-two percentage points. In contrast, the proportion of three-person and four-or-more-person households decreased by zero-point-2 percentage points and zero-point-8 percentage points, respectively.
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By region, 42-point-7 percent of single-person households were concentrated in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do Province. A source from the Ministry of Data and Statistics said that single-person households continue to increase due to the population aging the increase in unmarried people as well as later marriages. The survey also showed that nearly half of all people living alone said they often or sometimes feel lonely. Lee Eunjin, Arirang News.
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영어 원문 출처 및 동영상 링크;
arirang news/Nat'l/Politics
https://m.arirang.com/news/view?id=290268