Single-person households take up record-high 31.7% of Korean family units

[Photo by Kim Ho-young]

Single-person households in Korea accounted for 31.7 percent of all family units last year, the highest level in history, data showed Wednesday, as more people delay or forgo marriage while the share of seniors living alone is increasing.

According to data released by Statistics Korea, a single-person household was the most common type of living arrangement in the country last year with 6.643 million, up from 6.148 million in 2019.

By region, most of those living alone and ages less than 39 were found to live in Seoul.

Among those residing alone, people in their 20s accounted for the largest 19.1 percent, followed by those in between 30 and 39 (16.8 percent), 50 and 59 (15.6 percent), and 60 and 69 (15.6 percent).

The average living period as a single-person household was 9 years and 11 months.

About half of them lived in a small space of less than 40 square meters last year, but eight in 10 households, or 83.7 percent were generally satisfied with their residential environment.

Data also showed that 59.6 percent of single-member households were employed, down 1.2 percentage point from a year ago.

Per wage, the average single-member household earned 21.62 million won ($18,400) a year, about 36.5 percent of the average household income of 59.24 million won.

The average single-member household had a debt of about 25 million, up by a whopping 20.7 percent year-on-year, which is 4.7 times higher than the debt growth rate in the entire households.

The single-member household spent 1.32 million won per month, with an annual healthcare spending of 955,000 won (as of 2018).

[¨Ï Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]