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Healthy but not happy: Korean youth survey raises alarms on mental health, phone use

Published: 28 May. 2025, 18:45

A student walks by cram schools in Anyang, Gyeonggi, on March 10. [NEWS1]

A sound body but not so sound mind — teenagers in Korea say they’re in good physical health and enjoy school life but are becoming mentally unstable, reliant on private education and smartphones, according to the latest findings by the government.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family released the 2025 Youth Statistics report on Tuesday, a collection of 34 indicators drawn from nationally approved statistics.

Published annually since 2002, the report defines youth as those between the ages of 9 and 24 under the Framework Act on Juveniles, although each data set uses slightly different age brackets.

Youth population shrinking rapidly

Korea’s youth population stood at 7.63 million this year, accounting for 14.8 percent of the total population. That figure is down 0.3 percentage points from last year and is projected to decline sharply over the coming decades.

By 2070, only 3.26 million people, or 8.8 percent of the population, will fall into the youth category — well below half the current level.

That marks a sharp drop from the 13.98 million youths recorded in 1985, reflecting the ongoing effects of the nation’s low birthrate and aging population.

However, the number of students from multicultural backgrounds continued to rise. The number of students from multicultural families reached 193,814 as of last year.

A student uses a smartphone after school at a middle school in Seoul on Nov. 4, 2024. [YONHAP]

Physically healthy, mentally strained

A majority of students from fourth grade through high school seniors, or 85.7 percent, rated their physical health positively in 2024. That figure reached 90 percent among elementary schoolers, 84.7 percent for middle schoolers and 82.3 percent for high schoolers. On average, these students got 7.3 hours of sleep on weeknights.

But their mental health tells a different story. Among middle and high school students, 42.3 percent said they regularly feel stressed — up 5 percentage points from 2023.

Additionally, 27.7 percent reported experiencing symptoms of depression in the past year, a 1.7 percentage point rise from the year prior.

Smartphone dependency is also becoming more severe. Last year, 42.6 percent of teenagers were categorized as being at risk of overdependence on their phones. That’s a jump of 12.4 percentage points from 2019. The risk was particularly pronounced among male and middle school students.

School is fun, but cram school is the norm

While 72.4 percent of students from fourth grade through high school seniors said they enjoyed going to school, private education remains deeply embedded in student life.

Eight in 10 students participated in after-school tutoring or test prep last year, up 1.5 percentage points from 2023. They spent an average of 7.6 hours per week on private education — up 0.3 hours from the year before.

This shows that more students — or, perhaps more accurately, their parents — are turning to cram school amid intense competition for college admission despite positive sentiments about school life.

Participants hold up handwritten signs during the ″Rebuild the World Forum″ youth roundtable near Deoksu Palace in Jung District, central Seoul, on May 25. The event gathered 1,000 young people, including university students and teenagers. [YONHAP]

Next-gen activism

A significant majority of students said young people should engage in social issues. Among students from fourth grade through high school seniors, 82.1 percent agreed that “youth should take an interest in and express their opinions about social and political issues.”

The survey found that high schoolers closer to adulthood expressed the strongest support for civic engagement.

Nearly all respondents, or 96.6 percent, agreed that “everyone should have equal rights regardless of gender.” However, only 36.1 percent of youth aged 13 to 24 believed Korean society is safe — a figure that points to persistent concerns about public safety.

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY JUNG JONG-HOON [[email protected]]