One in Three Elderly Worries About 'Second COVID'... MZ Generation Concerns 'Money'

MZ, High Concerns About Environmental Pollution but Lack of Action

Although COVID-19 has ended and become endemic (periodic outbreaks of infectious diseases), the majority of Koreans still cannot shake off their anxiety about new infectious diseases. In particular, one in three elderly people cited new infectious diseases as the biggest source of anxiety in our society. In contrast, younger generations were more concerned about economic risks and crime.

According to the "Generational Social Safety and Environmental Awareness" report released on the 11th by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, which analyzed the status of social safety and environmental awareness by generation, all generations except Generation Z (ages 14-25) identified "the outbreak of new diseases" as the biggest source of anxiety in society.

Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

Overall, 21% named "the outbreak of new diseases" as their top anxiety factor. The older the generation, the higher the proportion who chose new disease outbreaks as their primary concern. The senior generation (65 and older) accounted for 30.2%, the baby boom generation (ages 56-65) 23.3%, Generation X (ages 40-56) 19.0%, Generation M (ages 25-40) 18.4%, and Generation Z (ages 14-25) 17.3% responded this way.

14.5% of the total respondents cited national security issues as their top anxiety factor. The senior generation had the highest proportion at 19.3%, followed by the baby boom generation at 17.2%, and Generation X at 14.8%, indicating that older generations were more concerned about national security.

On the other hand, younger generations evaluated economic risks and crime as relatively more significant sources of anxiety. The proportion naming economic risks as their top concern was 15.0% for Generation X, 14.7% for Generation Z, and 14.6% for Generation M, with active economic participants in Generation X and the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z) showing higher response rates.

Younger generations rated economic risks and crime as relatively greater sources of anxiety.
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In particular, the MZ generation showed a higher proportion of respondents who ranked crime as their number one anxiety factor compared to other generations. Generation Z recorded 18.9%, which was higher than "the outbreak of new diseases" (17.3%), and Generation M was second highest among all generations at 17.6%.

Only 8.4% chose environmental issues as their top concern, but the proportion feeling anxiety about environmental pollution was high. Across all generations, anxiety about climate change (45.9%) and fine dust (64.6%) was significant, with Generation X showing the highest anxiety about fine dust at 69.0%. Additionally, anxiety about hazardous chemicals exceeded 40% among Generation M (47.8%), Generation X (47.7%), and the baby boom generation (43.0%).

However, despite high anxiety levels, the MZ generation was less active in taking preventive actions. Looking at efforts to prevent environmental pollution by generation, reducing food waste was highest among the baby boom generation (91.8%) and the senior generation (90.7%), while Generation Z (77.3%) and Generation M (81.9%) showed lower participation. Similarly, reducing the use of synthetic detergents was higher among the baby boom generation (75.8%) and the senior generation (73.4%), but lower among Generation Z (52.5%) and Generation M (52.0%).

Women exhibited greater anxiety about the environment than men. Regarding climate change, only 42.5% of men reported feeling anxious, compared to 49.3% of women. For fine dust, 61.7% of men felt anxious, whereas 67.6% of women did. The perception gap between men (38.7%) and women (46.3%) regarding hazardous chemicals was as large as 7.6 percentage points.