Korean life satisfaction drops for the first time in four years... 33rd out of 38 OECD countries

Korean residents' life satisfaction has declined for the first time in four years, ranking 33rd among the 38 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries.

According to the 'National Quality of Life 2024 Report' released by the Korea National Statistical Office on the 24th, the 'life satisfaction' score for 2023 was 6.4 out of 10, a decrease of 0.1 points from the previous year.

The level of life satisfaction is an indicator that shows the subjective degree of satisfaction individuals feel regarding the objective conditions of their lives, representing a subjective assessment of how satisfied they are with their current life.

The life satisfaction score, which first rose to the 6-point range in 2017, remained at 6.0 during the COVID-19 pandemic, then increased to 6.3 in 2021 and 6.5 in 2022, but has now declined again.

There was no difference between males and females, both scoring 6.4 points. By age group, those aged 60 and above scored lower at 6.2 points, while those under 40 scored relatively higher, between 6.5 and 6.6 points.

The gap is even larger by income level, with low-income households earning less than 1 million won per month having a life satisfaction score of 5.7, while those earning between 1 million and 2 million won have a score of 6.1, and those earning over 5 million won have a score of 6.6. In particular, the group earning less than 2 million won experienced a notably larger decrease of -0.3 percentage points compared to 2022.

Professional management and office jobs scored 6.7 points each, while agriculture, forestry, and fisheries jobs scored 6.1 points, and skilled labor jobs scored 6.3 points.

 

Based on the international comparison criteria of the World Happiness Report published by the United Nations (UN), when examining the three-year period from 2021 to 2023, South Korea scored 6.06 points, which is 0.63 points lower than the OECD average of 6.69 points.

It is at a similar level to Greece (5.93 points), Hungary (6.02 points), Portugal (6.03 points), and Japan (6.06 points), ranking 33rd among the 38 OECD countries, which is an improvement of two steps from the 35th place recorded in the previous report.

Finland scored the highest with 7.74 points, followed by Germany (6.72 points), the United States (6.72 points), and Australia (7.06 points), all of which were above the OECD average. Furthermore, among the 143 countries worldwide for which relevant statistics are available, South Korea ranked 52nd, similar to Japan which was 51st.

 

Regarding the core item of 'positive emotion' recommended by the OECD's 'Subjective Well-Being Measurement Guidelines,' which measures 'how often you felt happy yesterday,' South Korea scored 6.7 points in 2023, maintaining the same level as since 2021.

There was no difference according to gender, and the age group difference was also not significant, with those in their 60s scoring the lowest at 6.5 points, while those under 40 scored 6.8 points, indicating a small gap.

However, when comparing by household income, positive emotions tend to be higher with increasing income. The group earning over 5 million won per month scored above 6.8 points, while the group earning less than 1 million won scored 6.1 points, which is 0.6 points below the overall average. The group earning between 1 million and 2 million won scored 6.3 points. From 3 million won and above, scores rose to over 6.7 points, indicating that the happiness of low-income groups was noticeably lower.

Looking at it by occupation, positive emotions were highest in specialized management and administrative jobs at 6.9 points, while they were lowest in agriculture, forestry, and fishery jobs at 6.4 points, and in skilled labor jobs at 6.5 points.

Including this, out of a total of 71 indicators, 61 indicators were renewed last year, 31 indicators improved compared to the previous period, 23 indicators worsened, and 7 indicators remained at the same level.

Indicators such as employment rate, satisfaction with school life, perceived stress level, subjective health status, physical activity participation rate, household net assets, air quality/noise satisfaction, life expectancy, median household income, housing rent ratio, and child abuse victimization rate have mainly improved.

 

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate, family relationship satisfaction, educational expense burden, school education effectiveness, nighttime walking safety, satisfaction with water quality/soil environment/green space environment, climate change anxiety, perception of safety, suicide rate, leisure time, fine dust concentration, institutional trust, and interpersonal trust have all worsened.

The National Statistical Office evaluated that indicators, which had significantly improved since the COVID-19 period, have recently slightly worsened or stagnated again.

 

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The survey results also show that life has become really tough... Could this possibly be related to politics as well...