Life satisfaction lower for single-person households

People living alone showed lower levels of life satisfaction than households with a larger number of members, according to a recent report.

Gyeonggi Research Institute released the report based on a survey conducted last year on the quality of life of 20,000 residents aged 19 and above.

The report shows 49.8 percent of single-person households reported they were satisfied with their lives, while 56.8 percent of two-person, 56.4 percent of three-person and 60.7 percent of four-person and larger households said the same.

The largest percentage of people living alone were satisfied (61.9 per- cent) when they spent leisure time with their families in comparison to when they spent time with colleagues, friends or acquaintances. Only 40.6 percent of the respondents were satisfied with spending their leisure time alone.

Life satisfaction increased by 45.5 percent in the case of single-person households that keep a pet, but decreased to 34.1 percent in the cases when they stopped having one.

“Policies which have been focused on single-person households consisting of senior citizens or the underprivileged must be revised to cater to single-person households of all age groups, based on findings that the increase in single-person households is not limited to certain generations and is a universal type of household seen in all age groups,” the research team said.

Meanwhile, the report showed more men were satisfied with their lives (56.1 percent) than women (48.6 percent).

According to age groups, those in their 50s showed the highest percentage of satisfaction at 58 percent and people in their 20s the lowest at 44.3 percent.