Senior citizens pass through tickets gates at a Seoul subway station. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Less than two out of 10 South Korean elderly people have a hunched back, the standard agency said Sunday, as their physical stature has improved thanks to the improvement in income levels and consistent self-care efforts.
The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards conducted a survey of 1,014 senior Koreans between the ages of 70 and 84.
The average height of the respondents stood at 165.7 centimeters for men and 152.1 centimeters for women, up 2.9 centimeters and 2.7 centimeters, respectively, compared to 2003 when the survey was conducted for the first time.
During the same period, the average weight increased by 5.1 kilograms to 66.8 kilograms for men and by 1 kilogram to 56.7 kilograms for women.
Compared to the figures reported in 2014, the proportion of the sitting height to standing height ratio increased from 52.9 percent to 53.8 percent for men and from 52.3 percent to 54.4 percent for women.
In particular, the proportion of individuals with an upright posture and straight backs reached a new high of 83.4 percent, followed by those with a hunched posture, whose trunk inclination angle is less than 87 degrees (2.8 percent), and those with a more pronounced upright posture, whose trunk inclination angle is more than 94 degrees (13.8 percent).
The agency added that the flatness ratio, which indicates the degree of flatness of the torso, has increased, resulting in an increase in the width of shoulders and a decrease in the thickness of chest and buttocks.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
