Half of single-person households in poverty: study

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Half of the single-person households live in poverty, and 7 out of 10 older adults living alone are also poor, according to a study.

As the number of single-person households continues to increase sharply, there is a pressing need for countermeasures to address this issue, the Korea Institute of Health and Social Affairs report published Sunday said.

The 2022 Poverty Statistical Yearbook report revealed that in 2020, the relative poverty rate based on disposable income, which measures the percentage of individuals who receive 50 percent or less of the median income, was 15.3 percent for the entire population. The rate for single-person households was 47.2 percent.

The poverty rate of single-person households was 54 percent in 2016, 52.1 percent in 2017, 52.7 percent in 2018, and 51.8 percent in 2019, but fell below 50 percent in 2020. In particular, the poverty rate of single-person households aged 65 or older reached 72.1 percent, indicating that 7 out of 10 older adults living alone are in poverty.

Among single-person households, the poverty rate for those aged 50 to 64 was 38.7 percent, 19.5 percent for those aged 35 to 49, and 20.2 percent for those aged 19 to 34.

According to Statistics Korea, there were 7.166 million single-person households in 2021, up 7.9 percent from 2020. The proportion of single-person households among all households soared from 20 percent in 2005 to a record high of 33.4 percent in 2021. Statistics Korea expects the proportion of single-person households to reach 39.6 percent by 2050.

Meanwhile, the top 30 percent of people who have the most net assets owned 71.3 percent of all assets, according to latest available Statistics Korea data from 2021.

By Lee Jung-youn(jy@heraldcorp.com)