Watching on-line content material is essentially the most frequent method Koreans spend their free time in 2025, with about 80 p.c streaming frequently, a survey confirmed Tuesday.
The survey, launched by the Ministry of Knowledge and Statistics, additionally discovered that fewer persons are studying books in comparison with 10 years in the past, with lower than half participating within the exercise this yr.
The 2025 survey, carried out from Could 14 to 29, examined welfare, social participation, leisure, revenue and spending and labor for about 34,000 people aged 13 and above in 19,000 households nationwide.
The findings come as Koreans stay longer and more and more need to spend their post-retirement years pursuing hobbies, with 42.4 p.c of respondents indicating this desire.
Nevertheless, in actuality, many spend a lot of their time on much less productive actions.
A complete of 85.9 p.c of respondents reported watching on-line content material on weekdays, in contrast with 75.6 p.c on weekends.
With a number of solutions allowed, these charges have been even greater than those that reported doing nothing and totally resting, which stood at 71.5 p.c on weekdays and 71.6 p.c on weekends.
Laptop video games and web searching, grouped as one class, adopted at 32 p.c on weekdays and 25.6 p.c on weekends, whereas hobbies and different self-development actions have been a lot decrease at 22.5 p.c on weekdays and 18.5 p.c on weekends.
As for studying, 48.7 p.c of individuals engaged within the exercise in 2025, down from 56.2 p.c a decade earlier, whereas the common variety of books learn per particular person fell from 16.5 to 14.3 over the identical interval.
Concerning journey, the share of individuals taking abroad journeys elevated greater than 30-fold, from 1.1 p.c in 2021 to 31.5 p.c, whereas home journey rose from 39.8 p.c to 70.2 p.c.
With the rise in journey, 73.5 p.c of individuals used leisure services corresponding to vacationer sights, forest parks, or seashores, returning to prepandemic ranges. Moreover, 57.7 p.c attended no less than one cultural, creative, or sports activities occasion, averaging 7.1 visits per yr, reflecting a gentle restoration in cultural participation.
Concerning retirement, 71.5 p.c of respondents stated they’re making preparations, with the state-run Nationwide Pension being the most typical methodology at 58.5 p.c.
Nevertheless, 58.4 p.c of Nationwide Pension contributors really feel the funds are burdensome relative to their revenue, in contrast with 55.3 p.c of medical insurance payers and 37.1 p.c of employment insurance coverage contributors.
Concerning social class notion, six out of 10 survey respondents thought of their social and financial standing to be center class.
In the meantime, 29.1 p.c imagine that by effort, their social and financial place is probably going to enhance inside their technology, a rise of two.7 proportion factors from two years in the past.
Amongst younger individuals aged 13 to 34, essentially the most fascinating workplaces are massive firms (28.7 p.c), adopted by public enterprises (18.6 p.c) and authorities establishments (15.8 p.c).
