Koreans score 69.9 out of 100 in retirement readiness: study

Koreans’ overall preparedness for life in retirement received an average score of 69.9 out of 100, according to a recent study conducted by a government-affiliated agency.

The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs' study, commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, assessed how well adults are preparing for the later stages of life across four key areas: health, finances, interpersonal relationships and leisure. The findings are based on survey responses collected from 3,040 adults aged 30 to 59 between August and September.

The latest average score marks a modest improvement from 67.5 points recorded in the previous survey conducted five years ago.

Koreans scored the highest in health at 74.5, followed by 67.6 in finances, 64.9 in interpersonal relationships and 60.3 in leisure.

The interpersonal relationship section was based on factors such as the number of friends, family members or neighbors respondents could talk to, while leisure was determined by whether respondents enjoyed any particular hobbies, how often they engaged in them and how satisfying they found them.

The most notable increase was a 7.3-point jump in the finances category, while the interpersonal relationship category marked a 2.4-point drop.

Korea in recent years has seen a consistent increase in single-person households, which is thought to have contributed to the country's declining score in interpersonal relationships. A 2024 figure from Statistics Korea showed that 35.5 percent of all households consisted of just one person in 2023, marking a dramatic increase from the 15.5 percent recorded in 2000.

It was also found in a Ministry of Health and Welfare report in October that 3,661 people died "lonely deaths" in 2023, defined by the government as "the death of a person socially isolated from family and friends, whose body is found after some time."

The study also showed that respondents themselves felt less confident about their preparedness for later life, compared to the score given by KIHASA. When asked to score themselves on how well they are prepared, respondents gave an average of 5.28 points out of 10.

The report also showed that a number of factors affected preparation for later life.

Respondents were asked to assess their perceived degree of financial stability by choosing one of three levels -- high, middle and low. Nearly half (45.3 percent) said they believed themselves to be in the middle level, while 41.1 percent said they were in the low group, and only 412 of the 3,040 respondents (13.5 percent) felt they were in the high group.

The high group scored an average of 73.4 points in overall preparation, followed by 70.7 points for the middle group and 67.8 points for the low group. In addition to the high group's clear advantage in the finances category -- a gap of 8.8 points between the high and low groups -- it scored better in the other three categories as well.

People living with family members scored higher than those living alone -- 70.8 to 65 -- while those with a spouse scored 71 and those without scored 65.6.