S. Korea’s elderly single-person households keep growing in 2023

SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) — South Korea’s elderly single-person households kept growing last year amid the rapidly aging population and the chronically low birthrate, statistical office data showed Thursday.
The number of households, headed by those aged 65 and older, totaled 5,655,000 in 2023, among which 2,138,000, or 37.8 percent, were single-person households, according to Statistics Korea.
The proportion of one-person households to the total elderly households continued to climb from 32.9 percent in 2015 to 34.1 percent in 2018, 36.4 percent in 2021 and 37.8 percent in 2023.
Of the senior single households, 32.8 percent had jobs last year, higher than 30.6 percent in the previous year.
The proportion of elderly one-person households who made their own living expenses stood at 49.4 percent of the total in 2023, while 94.1 percent received state pension in 2022 at a monthly average amount of 580,000 won (437 U.S. dollars).
Of the elderly living alone, 47.8 percent were dissatisfied with income last year, while dissatisfaction with consumption reached 41.2 percent.
Meanwhile, the number of those aged 65 and older totaled 9,938,000 in 2024, accounting for 19.2 percent of South Korea’s total population.
The elderly proportion was forecast to surpass 20 percent in 2025, 30 percent in 2036 and 40 percent in 2050, according to the statistical office estimate. ■