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Koreans are getting more miserable, study finds

Published: 24 Feb. 2025, 16:35

SHIN HA-NEE
[email protected]

Older adults wait in line for lunch at a soup kitchen in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 3. [YONHAP]

Koreans, especially those with lower incomes, are less happy than the rest of the world and getting unhappier, according to Statistics Korea.

The annual life satisfaction index, a measure of subjective well-being, inched down 0.1 percentage point to 6.4 points in 2023 with people in the lower income brackets growing notably unhappier, per a report the agency released Monday.

The country remained in the lower rankings in its happiness index among global peers. Older adults, in particular, were found to be especially vulnerable to social isolation.

While the figure was higher than the 6 points recorded in 2019 and 2020 and 6.3 points in 2021, Korea remained in the lower range on the global scale.

Korea’s life satisfaction index averaged at 6.06 points from 2021 to 2023, close to Japan’s 6.06, Portugal’s 6.03 and Hungary’s 6.02, according to the World Happiness Report 2024 issued by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Solutions Network. The country ranked 33rd among 38 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development nations. The OECD average stood at 6.69.

The drop in satisfaction was most pronounced among households earning 2 million won ($1,400) or less per month. The life satisfaction index stood at 6.1 for those earning between 1 million won and 2 million won a month, down from the previous year’s 6.4, and at 5.7 for those earning less than 1 million won, compared to 6 points a year earlier. Scores of those in higher income brackets remained largely unchanged, with households earning more than 5 million won a month posting 6.6 points.

The social isolation index, which reflects the proportion of the population who said they have no one to ask for help in their personal life, declined in 2023, but still remained higher than its prepandemic level. The figure stood at 33 percent in 2023, after surging from 27.7 percent in 2019 to 34.1 percent in 2021.

Older adults were particularly vulnerable to social isolation, as 29.7 percent of those aged 60 and older said they had no one to turn to when in need of assistance with daily chores, higher than the overall average of 26 percent. 26.9 percent of those 60 and older said they had no one to talk to, far higher than the 14 to 20 percent of the other age groups who reported the same.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [[email protected]]