Kickoff Meeting of Single-Person Household TF
Single-Person Household TF Takes Off
The single-person household TF took off on January 17, which will work on measures to deal with soaring single-person households. The measures are scheduled to be announced in May.
First Vice Minister of Economy and Finance Kim Yong-beum presided over the first TF meeting. The following is a summary of his keynote address.
Single-person households are soaring
Single-person households had doubled during the last 20 years to 29 percent in 2019 compared with 15 percent in 2000. There are a number of reasons for this fast increase of single-person households, including rapidly ageing population and depreciation in values given to traditional families as our society has gone through changes very fast. According to Statistics Korea, single-person households are projected to amount to over 30 percent to total population this year and will continue to add more than 100,000 households every year.
Policies still focusing on a family of four
It is time to review our policy framework we set with a family of four in mind, and seek ways to provide a right support to those in need of it. For example, young single-person households will need a housing support, mid-aged single-person households will have to fight loneliness, and elderly single-person households will need a strong social security system.
The task force is to look into the country’s single-person household situation and their need. Based on the task force’s analysis, the government will work on measures to support single-person households. The measures will include plans to promote a “solo economy”, a term referring to a market for single-person households.
Please refer to the attached pdf