One in Five Elderly Lives Alone... Monthly Income of 1.57 Million Won, Half That of Elderly Living with Family

20 Million Elderly Living Alone, the Largest Number Ever Recorded

The number of single-person households among the elderly aged 65 and over has nearly reached 2 million, marking an all-time high. One in five elderly people was found to be living alone.

A scene of checking the safety of an elderly person living alone

According to Statistics Korea on the 3rd, the population and housing census results showed that as of November last year, there were 9,046,000 Koreans aged 65 and over. Among them, single-person households numbered 1,973,000, accounting for 21.8% of the total. This means one in five elderly people lives alone. Both the number and proportion of elderly single-person households are at record highs.

As population aging and the trend of increasing single-person households coincide, the number of elderly living alone is rapidly increasing. The number of single-person households aged 65 and over rose from 1,223,000 in 2015 to 1,445,000 in 2018, then to 1,824,000 in 2021, and surged to 1,973,000 last year.

The income of elderly living alone was lower than that of elderly households living with others.

According to microdata from the Statistics Korea Household Income and Expenditure Survey, the average monthly income of elderly single-person households in the fourth quarter of last year was 1,571,000 won. This is less than half of the average income of 3,757,000 won for elderly households with two or more people living together.

Regarding employment status, 61.2% of elderly households living with others were employed, but only 41% of elderly living alone were employed.

Among elderly households living with others, temporary workers accounted for 22.3%, daily workers 5.6%, and regular workers 23.9%. Among elderly living alone, temporary workers accounted for 45.1%, daily workers 10.0%, and regular workers only 11.6%.

This means that elderly living alone are more likely to be unemployed, and even if employed, they are more likely to be in more unstable employment forms.

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