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Korea Herald
23-06-2025
- Health
- Korea Herald
Koreans score 69.9 out of 100 in retirement readiness: study
Wealthier Koreans, those living with family members better prepared Koreans' overall preparedness for life in retirement received an average score of 69.9 out of 100, according to a recent study conducted by a government-affiliated agency. The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs' study, commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, assessed how well adults are preparing for the later stages of life across four key areas: health, finances, interpersonal relationships and leisure. The findings are based on survey responses collected from 3,040 adults aged 30 to 59 between August and September. The latest average score marks a modest improvement from 67.5 points recorded in the previous survey conducted five years ago. Koreans scored the highest in health at 74.5, followed by 67.6 in finances, 64.9 in interpersonal relationships and 60.3 in leisure. The interpersonal relationship section was based on factors such as the number of friends, family members or neighbors respondents could talk to, while leisure was determined by whether respondents enjoyed any particular hobbies, how often they engaged in them and how satisfying they found them. The most notable increase was a 7.3-point jump in the finances category, while the interpersonal relationship category marked a 2.4-point drop. Korea in recent years has seen a consistent increase in single-person households, which is thought to have contributed to the country's declining score in interpersonal relationships. A 2024 figure from Statistics Korea showed that 35.5 percent of all households consisted of just one person in 2023, marking a dramatic increase from the 15.5 percent recorded in 2000. It was also found in a Ministry of Health and Welfare report in October that 3,661 people died "lonely deaths" in 2023, defined by the government as "the death of a person socially isolated from family and friends, whose body is found after some time." The study also showed that respondents themselves felt less confident about their preparedness for later life, compared to the score given by KIHASA. When asked to score themselves on how well they are prepared, respondents gave an average of 5.28 points out of 10. People with financial stability, family connections better prepared The report also showed that a number of factors affected preparation for later life. Respondents were asked to assess their perceived degree of financial stability by choosing one of three levels -- high, middle and low. Nearly half (45.3 percent) said they believed themselves to be in the middle level, while 41.1 percent said they were in the low group, and only 412 of the 3,040 respondents (13.5 percent) felt they were in the high group. The high group scored an average of 73.4 points in overall preparation, followed by 70.7 points for the middle group and 67.8 points for the low group. In addition to the high group's clear advantage in the finances category -- a gap of 8.8 points between the high and low groups -- it scored better in the other three categories as well. People living with family members scored higher than those living alone -- 70.8 to 65 -- while those with a spouse scored 71 and those without scored 65.6.
Korea Herald
05-02-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
92% of South Koreans concerned about political conflict in society: survey
Of all the conflicts in society, South Koreans are most concerned about political conflict between liberals and conservatives, a 2023 report by a state-run think tank showed Wednesday. In Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs' survey of 3,950 people aged 19-75 conducted between June and August 2023, 92.3 percent of the respondents said they thought the political conflict between progressives and conservatives was a serious issue, slightly up from 87 percent who thought so in the 2018 survey. The Korea Health Industry Development Institute has been conducting the survey on social conflict and social integration every year since 2014. This survey was conducted a year and a half before the current political crisis, sparked by by President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched imposition of martial law on Dec. 3, which led to mass protests both in support of and against his impeachment and criminal investigation. In the 2023 survey, political conflict between progressives and conservatives topped the list of social conflicts surveyed, surpassing conflict between full-time workers with permanent job security and those without, which 82.2 percent of respondents said was the most serious. Management-labor conflict and wealth inequality between the rich and the poor followed, at 79.1 percent and 78 percent, respectively, indicating that economic polarization is still a major issue in Korean society in multiple ways. Political conflict was found to entail substantial complications in human interactions. Over half of respondents, 58.2 percent, said they would not date or marry a person with different political leanings. Another 33.02 percent said they would not have drinks with a friend or acquaintance who did not share similar political beliefs. Less willingness to have drinks with, date, marry or participate in civic and social group activities with people of different political leanings was found among women, senior citizens, low-income respondents and those with only middle-school levels of education. Gender conflict on its own, however, was perceived to be relatively less serious in the 2023 KIHASA survey, with only 46.6 percent of the respondents saying they are concerned about it. Respondents expected the political conflict in Korean society to worsen. When asked if a certain type of social conflict was likely to become more serious in the next 10 years, 87.66 percent picked political conflict between progressives and conservatives, while 79.95 percent chose conflict between the rich and the poor, and 75.84 said management-labor conflict would become more serious. 'In order to alleviate social conflict," the research team said, "It is necessary to establish a legal and institutional foundation that allows the parties involved, other stakeholders and citizens to participate in the process of adjusting and managing such social conflict.' The majority of the people -- 56.01 percent -- who participated in the survey believed that the government should play a crucial role in resolve these conflicts in Korean society, followed by 22.04 percent who picked political parties and the National Assembly, and 9.16 percent who said individuals should play a key role. But only 41.9 percent of respondents believed that the government was capable of resolving such conflicts, while 22.6 percent trusted the National Assembly to accomplish this task.
