More Than Half of Single-Person Households in Gyeonggi Province Have Monthly Income Below 2 Million Won

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun] A survey has revealed that single-person households in Gyeonggi Province last year exceeded 20% of all single-person households nationwide, with one in three earning less than 1 million won in monthly average income.

The largest age group was those in their 30s, and living expenses showed high proportions in housing, food, and medical/healthcare costs.

According to the '2022 Gyeonggi Province Single-Person Household Statistics' released by the province on the 27th, single-person households in Gyeonggi Province (as of 2020) number approximately 1.4 million, accounting for 21.2% of all single-person households nationwide.

The proportion of single-person households within all provincial households increased from 23.8% in 2016 to 27.6% in 2020.

By age group, the distribution was as follows: 30s (19.4%), 50s (17.0%), 20s (16.9%), and 40s (16.3%).

Based on last year, the monthly average household income of single-person households was: ▲Less than 1 million won 36.6% ▲1 million–2 million won 23.9% ▲2 million–3 million won 20.7% ▲3 million–4 million won 10.7% ▲4 million–5 million won 4.3% ▲5 million won or more 3.7%, with those earning less than 2 million won accounting for 60.5%.

This represents a 1.0 percentage point increase from 59.5% in 2019, before COVID-19.

Last year, the monthly average income of all Gyeonggi Province households was distributed as follows: ▲2 million–less than 3 million won 17.7% ▲3 million–less than 4 million won 16.6% ▲1 million–less than 2 million won 16.0%.

Single-person households spent the most on household living expenses in the following order: housing costs (30.5%), food costs (25.2%), and medical/healthcare costs (20.7%).

Given that all Gyeonggi Province households' living expense distribution was food costs (25.4%), housing costs (23.9%), and medical/healthcare costs (17.6%), it is analyzed that single-person households would feel a relatively greater burden from housing and medical/healthcare costs.

When single-person households self-assessed their health status, 48.1% answered 'good' and 23.3% answered 'poor'.

Compared to all Gyeonggi Province households' responses (good 58.6%, poor 11.6%), single-person households showed a relatively worse perception of their health status.

66.1% of single-person households (69.6% for all Gyeonggi Province) were preparing for retirement, with preparation methods in the following order: National Pension (83.1%), deposits/savings/savings insurance (37.5%), and private pensions (13.7%).

Reasons for not preparing for retirement included lack of financial capacity (45.9%), plans to prepare in the future (24.7%), and dependence on children (14.7%).

As of 2020, single-person household residential areas were distributed as follows: 40–60 square meters or less (35.6%), 20–40 square meters (26.3%), and 60–85 square meters (22.8%), with 67.3% of single-person households residing in areas of 60 square meters or less.

When choosing a residence, considerations in order of priority were proximity to workplace/employment (42.2%), economic circumstances (13.3%), and residence of family/relatives/acquaintances (12.8%).

This data is a reanalysis of the Statistics Korea's Population and Housing Census (2020), Housing Census (2020), the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family's Family Status Survey (2020), the Ministry of Health and Welfare's National Basic Livelihood Security Recipient Status (2020), and Gyeonggi Province's Gyeonggi Social Survey (2021).

This is the first time that single-person household statistics for the province have been comprehensively organized by ▲population/households ▲housing ▲income and 8 categories in total.