1 in 5 elderly "live alone" ... Income is "less than half" of elderly living together = Korea

In South Korea, 1 out of 5 elderly people aged 65 and over are surveyed as living alone. They also found that their income was less than half that of elderly households with two or more people living together.

According to the National Statistics Office's population and housing survey on the 3rd, as of November last year, there were 9,046,000 people over the age of 65.

Of these, 1,973,000 people were single-person households, accounting for 21.8% of the total. One in five elderly people is living alone. This percentage is the highest ever.

The number of elderly people aged 65 and over was 3 million in 2000, increased to 7 million in 2017, to 8 million in 2020, and to 9 million last year.

Among them, the number of elderly people living alone will increase from 1.223 million in 2015 to 1.445 million in 2018 and 1.824 million in 2021.

On the other hand, the income of elderly people living alone was found to be lower than that of elderly households living with multiple people. According to Statistics Korea's Household Trends Survey microdata, the average monthly income for households whose head was 65 years old or older and lived alone was 1,571,000 won in the fourth quarter of last year (October to December).

The average monthly income for households with a household head aged 65 or older and someone living together was 3,757,000 won. In comparison, the income of "elderly living alone" was only 41%.