A group of seniors takes part in a dance class in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent survey has revealed that South Korean middle-aged adults in their 50s and 60s have a strong desire for social interaction, including leisure activities, but their actual participation rate is low.
The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs conducted a nationwide survey of 4,000 middle-aged adults between 50 and 69 years of age.
Among the respondents, 76.6 percent said that participation in social activities was important in their current life.
Another 83.2 percent of the respondents stressed that participation in social activities would be more important in their later years than in their current life.
In this survey, the social activities were defined to include leisure and cultural activities, volunteer activities and lifelong education activities, but exclude job activities.
The leisure activity that the middle-aged adults participated in the most frequently over the past month was TV watching (42 percent).
However, the leisure activity that the respondents wanted to participate in the most during their later years was ‘domestic and overseas trips or excursions’ (31.2 percent), indicating the difference between their current circumstances and their future desires.
In other words, the new middle-aged adults had a strong desire to enjoy trips and excursions in their old years compared to their current life.
When it came to volunteer activities, 16.3 percent of the respondents said that they were currently engaged in such activities. This figure is lower than the 45.8 percent who said they would like to take part in such activities when they were older.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
