Single Livers Growing

Apparently a domestic trend is taking place in South Korea that goes against everything I witness every day. According to this story, the number of people living alone is growing.

From the story:

'Statistics Korea reported Monday that one-member households accounted for 20.1 percent of the total in 2008, up from 15.6 percent in 2000 and 6.9 percent in 1985.

The ratio will likely continue to rise in the future, with more senior citizens living alone in line with an increasing life expectancy.

Additionally, many young adults these days are delaying marriage and choosing to live alone due to financial and other reasons, while more single women are living on their own amid the rising divorce rate.'

I can certainly understand the growth rate compared to previous decades. That makes sense. but that still doesn't change the fact that I know ZERO Koreans who are single and living alone. I don't claim to know everybody, but I do know a pretty good cross-section of people through my co-workers, friends and family of a certain special girl.

The closest thing I've seen to a person living alone is Hye Yun's cousin. She has her own place independent of her parents, but she lives with her sister as her roommate. So I wonder where all these singles are hiding.

Anyway, the story also says that, as 0f 2005, Korea ranked 24th of 25 OECD member countries at amount spent on education. The country averaged $2,426 per person, while the OECD average was $4,888.

Again, this is something that is tough to grasp, seeing how Koreans embrace private academies. I never imagined Koreans were number one in spending, but to be so low surprises me.

Here's my favorite stat from this article of fun facts:

'Only 28.2 percent of Koreans said people are trustworthy, the 14th lowest rate among 19 OECD member countries. About 68 percent of Swedish and 58.9 percent of Finish respondents said they trust other members of society.'

Living in Korea, I stopped trusting everyone else as well. Haha.