[News Terms] Marts and Banks Disappear... 'Financial Desertification'

Desertification refers to the phenomenon where land and the environment gradually turn into deserts due to natural factors such as severe droughts or artificial factors like indiscriminate farmland irrigation, deforestation, and environmental pollution. When droughts occur due to climate anomalies caused by global warming, forests disappear, leading to a decrease in oxygen supply and an increase in carbon dioxide, which accelerates desertification. As water disappears and land becomes barren due to desertification, crops cannot be cultivated, causing residents to suffer from famine and hunger, ultimately forcing them to leave their homes.

The term "food desert," metaphorically related to this phenomenon, refers to areas where it is difficult to obtain groceries, just as it is hard to find water in a desert. The term was first used in the 1990s to describe a public housing area in Scotland, UK, where low-income residents had difficulty accessing fresh food and relied on cheap processed foods. Residents in food desert areas face not only nutritional imbalances but also significant threats of social isolation.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Recently, in South Korea, suburban areas of cities and rural villages inhabited only by elderly people are becoming food deserts. When there are no residents and even fewer transient populations, not only do new grocery stores or convenience stores fail to open, but existing shops and marts close down and move to online malls. These areas also lack delivery or early morning delivery services, accelerating the food desert phenomenon.

In the United States, reports have emerged that "pharmacy deserts" are progressing as large pharmacy chains, which have expanded for decades, close hundreds of stores due to declining profitability. There are concerns that reduced pharmacy accessibility could worsen health disparities among low-income and vulnerable populations living in medical blind spots.

The term "finance desert" refers to the phenomenon where financial institutions such as banks and securities firms maintain branches only in metropolitan areas while disappearing from rural and non-metropolitan regions. Financial institutions consolidate branches to reduce labor and rental costs and encourage customers to conduct financial transactions via PCs or smartphone applications. However, for financially marginalized groups such as the elderly, financial accessibility weakens further, and they become more vulnerable to financial fraud. This leads to a vicious cycle where regional disparities widen, financial resources concentrate among high-income groups, and income inequality deepens.