During COVID-19, Water and Electricity Bill Delinquency Rates Surge to 20% Range... Suicide High-Risk Group Also Up 18.6%

Democratic Party Rep. Shin Hyun-young: "COVID-19 Impact Intensifies for Low-Income Groups... Government Must Strive to Identify Welfare Blind Spots"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Wondara] Due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the rates of arrears in public rental housing, electricity bills, and water bills have surged. The proportion of self-harm and suicide attempts has also increased.

According to data on the "Social Security Information System (Happiness e-um) Crisis Household Detection and Support Status" submitted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to Shin Hyun-young, a member of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the number of public rental housing arrears in the first half of this year was 142,558, a 104.9% increase compared to 69,563 during the same period last year.

During the same period, the number of households with electricity bill arrears was 1,011,905, up 28.8% from 785,898 the previous year, and the number of households cut off due to unpaid water bills also increased by 20.1%, from 8,990 last year to 10,801 this year.

The high-risk group for suicide also increased. The number of high-risk suicide cases at public health centers was 10,246, an 18.6% increase from 8,637 the previous year, and among emergency medical center visitors, those who attempted self-harm or suicide numbered 50,258, a 12.7% increase from 51,682 last year.

The number of unemployment benefit recipients rose by 20.7 percentage points to 608,412 from 504,012 last year.

Government support for COVID-19 vulnerable groups was found to be insufficient. Although the government identified 209,812 crisis households in the first half of this year, only 38.4% of them were eligible for crisis support, and most of the support (64.2%) was provided through services linked to private organizations rather than public services.

Representative Shin stated, "The statistics confirm that the impact of COVID-19 is intensifying for low-income groups. People without records of health insurance or property tax payments are excluded from the Happiness e-um detection system, so the government does not even know if they are welfare recipients. The government needs to make more efforts to identify welfare blind spots."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.