As the number of single-person households living alone without forming a family continues to rise, their share of all households surpassed 36% last year.
According to the Social Security Statistics Yearbook published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the 30th, single-person households numbered 8,045,000 last year, accounting for 36.1% of all households.
The share of single-person households, which was 27.2% (5.2 million households) in 2015, topped 30% in 2020 (31.7%, 6.64 million households) and has increased every year since. If the current trend continues, single-person households are estimated to reach 8.55 million in 2027, 9.71 million in 2037, and 9.94 million in 2042.
The population aged 65 or older reached 10 million for the first time last year. As the share of older adults in Korea's total population hit 20.1% and topped 20% for the first time, the country entered a "super-aged society."
The number of daycare centers nationwide plunged from 43,770 in 2013 to 27,387 last year. However, the share of public daycare centers among all daycare centers increased, accounting for 23.8% as of last year.
The participation rate in private education reached 80% for the first time last year. That is up 1.5 percentage points (p) from the previous year (78.5%). The average monthly private education cost per student was found at 474,000 won. High school students spent an average of 520,000 won per month, middle school students 490,000 won, and elementary school students 440,000 won.
The number of doctors stood at 109,274 as of last year, down 4.7% from the previous year (114,699). As of 2023, the number of medical treatments a person received from a doctor in a year was 18, 2.7 times the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average (6.7). National social welfare and health expenditure was 237.6 trillion won, accounting for 36.2% of national total expenditure.