SEOUL, May 12 (Korea Bizwire) — As South Korea grapples with the financial implications of its aging population, the government has released the nation’s first full-scale survey on so-called “dementia money”—the frozen assets held by elderly citizens with dementia—and experts are urging swift action modeled on Japan’s experience. According to the Presidential Committee on Aging Society [...]
SEOUL, May 12 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s birthrate continues to decline, but a growing number of unmarried adults now say they still intend to marry—offering a potential, if modest, glimmer of hope in the nation’s battle against population decline. According to a comprehensive 2024 survey released Sunday by the Korea Institute for Health and Social [...]
SEOUL, May 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korean consumers reined in spending on everyday items and luxury goods in the first quarter of 2025, while showing a notable willingness to spend on travel-related expenses, according to new data from mobile analytics platform IGAWorks. The firm’s Mobile Index data, based on estimated credit and debit card transactions [...]
SEOUL, May 7 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea has dropped one spot to 20th in the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) latest Human Development Index (HDI) rankings, despite a slight improvement in its overall score, highlighting growing international competition and widening inequality between countries. According to the 2025 Human Development Report released Tuesday by the UNDP, [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Seven in 10 households made online purchases of processed foods in 2024, a survey showed Tuesday, marking a sharp increase from a year earlier and a significant change in where and how people shop. According to the survey conducted by the Korea Rural Economic Institute, 72.3 percent of households [...]
SEOUL, May 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Elderly dementia patients in South Korea hold assets worth a combined 153.5 trillion won (US$110.9 billion), which is equivalent to about 6.4 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), data showed Tuesday. The assets had been owned by 1.24 million dementia patients aged 65 and above as of [...]
SEOUL, May 5 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of children in South Korea seeking outpatient psychiatric treatment has more than doubled over the past four years, with sharp increases observed particularly among elementary school-aged children, according to newly released government data. Figures from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, submitted to Rep. Jin Sun-mi of [...]
South Korean High School Freshmen Average 172.9 cm in Height as Student Obesity Declines for Third Year SEOUL, April 30 (Korea Bizwire) — At a glance, the data reads like good news: South Korea’s teens are growing taller, and for the third year in a row, fewer of them are obese. But behind the steady gains [...]
As non-regular workers fall further behind in wages, benefits, and protections, a growing segment of the workforce risks being left out of the country’s economic future. SEOUL, April 30 (Korea Bizwire) — In South Korea’s rapidly changing labor market, a widening wage chasm is sending a sobering message: for non-regular workers, the dream of financial parity [...]
SEOUL, April 24 (Korea Bizwire) — One in three South Korean women have experienced physical or sexual violence at least once during their lifetime, a government survey showed Thursday. The gender ministry said the survey conducted in-person on 7,027 female adults nationwide from September to November last year showed that 36.1 percent of women had [...]