[Insight & Opinion] A Society Where Everyone Invests Over an Hour in Their Health Every Day

According to the National Sports for All Survey, 48% of the entire population exercises regularly at least twice a week for 30 minutes or more each time. This is a significant improvement compared to 35% in 2012. How many people exercise for more than an hour daily for their health? Although there are no official statistics, it is estimated to be around 20%. This means that 10 million people invest more than an hour daily in their health, while 40 million do not. It is time to reverse this figure. We need to create a society where at least 40 million people invest more than an hour every day in their health.

About three years ago, I wrote a column titled "If You Were to Create Only One National Development Strategy, It Should Be a National Health Strategy!" This idea remains unchanged. Health is the most important foundation of life on a personal level and a key infrastructure for creating a happy society on a social level. Yet, health is often neglected because it is taken for granted like water and oxygen. Even though people know health is important, they fail to make time for it due to other priorities. This must change now. We need to create a new culture where everyone prioritizes their health every day.

Health management is one of the most effective and certain investments. According to one report, good health management can extend an individual's healthy lifespan by 10 years and reduce society's disease-related cost burden by 40%. In the 20th century, improvements in health contributed about one-third to economic growth, meaning health contributed to growth as much as education did. There is no need to cite such figures. Comparing living healthily into your 80s and 90s with suffering from poor health in your 40s and 50s for decades makes the impact clear. Health is the invisible hand that contributes to individual life and happiness as well as social well-being and sustainable growth.

At the organizational and national levels, the health of members is an important social asset. As capitalism develops, income inequality and wealth gaps widen, which in turn lead to health inequalities. The story changes if the majority of society’s members are healthy. Health is the foundation that allows individuals to live their lives in a sound and happy way regardless of their economic wealth. Ultimately, the health of society’s members will also contribute to reducing economic and social inequalities and gaps.

In the era of artificial intelligence (AI) and longevity, health, along with education, is a century-long plan. Health must now be set as the most important agenda of our society. It is said that if you lose health, you lose everything. Conversely, gaining health means building a personal and social infrastructure that allows you to gain everything. This is why, if you were to create only one national development strategy, it must be a national health strategy.

A healthy mind dwells in a healthy body. Being healthy improves quality of life and increases the likelihood of happiness. Health boosts confidence and enhances motivation and passion for life. Individual health is also a valuable social capital. It can act as a catalyst to more easily solve social challenges such as aging, inequality, social integration, and welfare.

Health is a solid foundation for life on an individual level and the basis for a society full of confidence, vitality, leisure, and happiness on a social level. Until now, health has been considered a personal issue, but from now on, it must become the top national priority. National health should be established as one of South Korea’s new national policy goals.

Kim Hyun-gon, Director of the National Assembly Future Institute