Statistics Korea: "Seoul Single-Person Households Have Limited Call Contacts but High Call Frequency"

SK Telecom and Pseudonymized Data Integration... Support for Seoul's Single-Person Household Policy
Announcement of Analysis Results on Living Conditions of Over 3.4 Million Single-Person Households in Seoul

Survey scene of single-person households of middle-aged men. (Photo by Asia Economy DB)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] It has been found that single-person households living in Seoul have fewer call recipients compared to multi-person households. This is interpreted as frequently calling a smaller number of people.

Statistics Korea announced on the 22nd the results of an analysis of the living conditions of about 3.4 million single-person household residents in Seoul through pseudonymized data linkage in collaboration with Seoul City and SK Telecom. By linking various pseudonymized population and household information from Statistics Korea with communication data from SK Telecom, the survey was conducted to understand not only housing, employment, income, and welfare of single-person households but also their living conditions such as loneliness and financial crises, to be used for Seoul City's support policies for single-person households. SK Telecom provided information such as day and night residence locations, call volume and number of call recipients, SNS and delivery app usage, and payment delinquencies. According to Statistics Korea, under the Data 3 Act, pseudonymized information can be used for statistical compilation and research purposes without individual consent.

According to Statistics Korea, single-person household residents had a higher call volume (number of calls) but fewer call recipients compared to members of multi-person households. In particular, older adults showed significant differences in call volume depending on income level. A Statistics Korea official explained, "Among elderly single-person households in the middle to upper income bracket, the call volume was higher than that of younger single-person households. It seems necessary to conduct further research to determine whether this is due to frequent check-in calls between family members living apart."

The number of call recipients for single-person household members was found to be fewer than that of multi-person households. Among single-person household members, males had more call recipients than females. Especially, men in their 30s to 50s had about 15 more call recipients than those in their 20s. Women in their 50s also communicated with about 15 more people than those in their 20s. Regarding call volume, except for those in their 30s, women had more calls than men. For women, call volume increased from their 30s up to their 60s. For men, call volume decreased after their 20s.

It was found that the poorer the individual, the more experience they had with delinquent communication bill payments. Among middle-aged and older single-person households, the delinquency rate was highest at 15.9% for those with no income. This was about seven times higher than the delinquency rate of approximately 2-3% for those with an annual income of 70 million KRW or more. Even compared to delinquency rates of members in two-person or three-or-more-person households of the same age group with no income, the delinquency risk for middle-aged and older single-person households with no income was 1.37 times and 1.77 times higher, respectively.

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