This photo, taken on May 3, 2020, shows citizens at a zoo inside Children’s Grand Park in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — More than half of unmarried South Koreans in their 30s and 40s live with their parents, a recent study showed.
The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs reported that according to the 2021 National Survey on Fertility and Family Health and Welfare, 49.7 percent of unmarried men and women in their 30s and 48.8 percent of those in their 40s lived with their parents.
More unmarried women in their 30s and 40s lived with their parents than men.
Including those who were married, 30 percent of South Korean adults between 19 and 49 years of age lived with their parents. Looking only at unmarried men and women in the same age range, a whopping 62.4 percent lived with their parents.
“South Koreans are still focused on the idea that living together involves marriage,” the report said.
In fact, 36.4 percent separated from their parents after marriage, which was the most common reason for leaving home, followed by school (28 percent), work (20.9 percent) and independence (7.3 percent).
Unmarried adults separated from their parents mostly when they had to move away for school (45.9 percent) or work (28.5 percent).
Unmarried people were more likely to separate from their parents if they had higher incomes. Adult children whose parents were in the lower income tiers were also less likely to move out.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
