Koreans have a lower level of happiness and a higher level of happiness inequality than other countries. The elderly, single-person households, and groups with low social relations dissatisfaction and low economic level were identified as vulnerable to happiness.
According to a report titled "Korean happiness, what should we do?" in "KOSTAT Statistics Plus" published by the Statistics Development Institute of the National Statistical Office on the 25th, Korea belongs to a group of countries with a low level of happiness compared to economic growth.
Countries with high economic growth levels and happy people belong to advanced welfare countries such as Switzerland and Luxembourg, while countries with happy people compared to economic growth include Latin American countries such as Costa Rica and Colombia.
Looking at the cantril ladder, which measures the overall level of happiness by dividing it into 1 to 10 levels, the higher the level of happiness inequality, the greater the gap between the happy and the less happy, the lower the level of happiness. Among OECD member countries, Korea, where the level of happiness of its people is relatively low, has a relatively high level of happiness inequality.
Kim Sung-ah, an associate researcher at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (Bosa-yeon), said, "It is time to pay attention to the happiness of Koreans at this point when the unprecedented results of compressed growth are shown."
As a result of the Bo Sa-yeon's survey on Koreans' happiness, it was found that if the level of education is high, if the job is stable, if the income is high, and if the social relationship is satisfied, the level of happiness is high.
Looking at the happiness score by age group, the elderly group aged 35 to 49 had a relatively high rate of 7 or 8 points compared to other age groups. The elderly, especially the late elderly group aged 75 or older, had a high rate of responding to relatively low happiness scores in the range of 1 to 5, indicating a low average level of happiness.
Looking at the distribution of happiness scores according to the number of household members, the higher the number of household members, the higher the rate of responding to relatively high happiness scores of 5 or more.
Single-person households have a relatively high rate of responding to relatively low happiness scores of 1 to 6 points compared to other groups, and a relatively low response rate of 7 points or more. The group that answered the highest 10 points was similar in all 1-4 households, except for households with 5 or more people, but as a result, single-person households were among the vulnerable groups in the relationship of happiness.
In order to realize a welfare state, it is necessary to build statistics on the vulnerable as well as welfare programs for the vulnerable, and in the future, it is necessary to explore the vulnerable and track changes over time according to specific aspects of life, such as settlement conditions and quantity and quality of jobs, said Kim.
Writer: Yeyoung Jeon
(Picture from Unsplash)
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