Korea ranked first in housing amongst 38 OECD nations however positioned close to the underside in social connections and life satisfaction. The nation ranked nineteenth total, putting within the center tier, as weak social ties and poor labor situations dragged down high quality of life regardless of typically robust materials situations.
The findings had been printed Monday in an impartial well-being evaluation titled “Tendencies and Implications of the OECD Higher Life Index” by the Korea Institute for Well being and Social Affairs. The calculation, based mostly on the up to date Group for Financial Cooperation and Improvement (OECD) Higher Life Index, compares high quality of life throughout 11 dimensions, together with housing, well being, schooling, atmosphere and social connections.
The outcomes diversified broadly throughout classes. Whereas Korea ranked first in housing and second in information and expertise, it landed within the backside tier in different areas, rating thirty fifth in subjective well-being, thirty sixth in job high quality and thirty seventh in social connections.
The housing area was evaluated based mostly on overcrowding and housing affordability. Korea scored 8.97 factors to rank eighth in overcrowding, which signifies the proportion of households missing rooms relative to family measurement, and 9.96 factors to rank second in housing affordability, which measures the proportion of earnings out there for residing bills excluding housing prices. Combining these two indicators, the nation positioned first within the report’s housing class. Nevertheless, the calculation used nationwide information, together with lower-cost areas exterior main metropolitan areas, and excluded mortgage repayments.
Korea ranked second in information and expertise. The common math rating for 15-year-olds within the Program for Worldwide Pupil Evaluation (PISA) was 527.3 factors, the second-highest amongst OECD nations.
Nevertheless, the nation ranked close to the underside in a number of subjective well-being indicators. Life satisfaction stood at 6.5 out of 10 factors to rank thirty sixth, whereas 14.85 p.c of the inhabitants reported experiencing extra unfavorable than optimistic feelings each day, rating twenty ninth. General, the subjective well-being class positioned thirty fifth.
Social connection indicators additionally pointed to widespread isolation. The social connections class scored 2.42 out of 10 factors to rank thirty seventh, leaving Japan as the one nation beneath Korea. Inside this class, Korea ranked final within the social help indicator, which measures whether or not folks have kinfolk or associates they will rely on in instances of want, with 20.64 p.c reporting nobody to depend on.
Labor situations remained among the many worst. The proportion of individuals working 50 hours or extra per week was 13.69 p.c, rating thirty fourth. The ladies’s median wage was 28.95 p.c decrease than males’s, representing the most important gender wage hole within the OECD. The nation additionally ranked poorly on a number of inequality and poverty metrics, with the highest 20 p.c incomes 5.77 instances as a lot as the underside 20 p.c, rating twenty seventh.
The report put Korea’s charge of mixed deaths from suicide, alcohol and drug abuse at 27.97 per 100,000 folks, the eighth-highest charge among the many 38 nations assessed. In distinction, the nation’s life expectancy of 83.5 years ranked fifth, highlighting a stark distinction between longevity and lived well-being.
Chart generated by synthetic intelligence
Jeong Hae-sik, the report’s creator, steered the federal government implement insurance policies to enhance high quality of life.
“Norway confirmed comparatively balanced improvement throughout all areas to rank first total,” Jeong mentioned. “Korea wants insurance policies aimed toward bettering high quality of life, because the nation stays susceptible in inequality indicators, social connections and subjective well-being.”
This text from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Instances, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Instances.
