SEOUL, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's single-person households kept growing last year amid the aging population and the changing social values, statistical ministry data showed Tuesday.
The number of one-person households totaled 8,045,000 in 2024, accounting for 36.1 percent of the country's total households, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
The proportion of single-person households to the total continued to rise from 27.2 percent in 2015 to 31.7 percent in 2020 and 35.5 percent in 2023.
The upward trend was attributable to the rapidly aging population and the changing social values, such as delayed marriage and non-marriage, affected by soaring housing prices, job market instability and higher living costs, according to the ministry.
Of the total one-person households, the highest portion of 22.1 percent resided in Gyeonggi province, followed by the capital Seoul with 20.6 percent and the southeastern port city of Busan with 6.8 percent.
The annual average income of single-person households expanded 6.2 percent over the year to 34.23 million won (about 23,270 U.S. dollars) in 2024, corresponding to 46.1 percent of the total household income. ■