Government to Measure 'Regional Balanced Development and Quality of Life' Levels Starting This Month

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seonhee] The government announced on the 19th that it will measure the level of 'regional balanced development and quality of life' starting this month.

This survey is jointly conducted by the Statistics Korea, the National Balanced Development Committee, the Government Innovation Promotion Council, and local governments. In the first half of the year, the survey will begin with three cities and provinces including Ulsan, and in the second half, it will be conducted sequentially in 14 cities and provinces including Seoul.

The measurement of regional balanced development and quality of life has been conducted since last year to generate basic data necessary for developing and implementing policies at the city, county, and district levels. This year, 12 additional items in six areas such as income, consumption, assets, housing, and transportation will be added to the 'regional social survey' conducted by each local government.

The common survey items consist of 21 items across 10 areas, including life satisfaction. Eleven items are surveyed in even years, 12 items in odd years, on a biennial basis (two items are surveyed annually). Once this year's survey is completed following last year's, basic data for all items will be generated. This data is expected to be utilized for policy development and implementation by central administrative agencies and local governments.

Ryu Geun-gwan, Commissioner of Statistics Korea, said, "Measuring the level of regional balanced development and quality of life will serve as a good example of cooperation between central administrative agencies and local governments to produce statistics necessary for national and local policy formulation. We hope that through active discovery of such cooperative projects, various reliable statistics for proper policy design and execution will be produced."

Kim Sa-yeol, Chairman of the Balanced Development Committee, said, "I hope that the balanced development indicators will be more widely used in various policies and contribute to the balanced development of our country."

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