Writing a Will and Experiencing Death in a Burial Shroud... Half of Users Are from the MZ Generation

Increasing Number of Young People Planning Ahead for Death
Will Campaigns and End-of-Life Experiences Popular Among 2030 Generation

Following the pursuit of happiness through healthy living known as ‘Well-being,’ there is a growing interest among the ‘MZ generation’ in ‘Well-Dying,’ which signifies a beautiful conclusion to life. While ‘death preparation’ has traditionally been considered the domain of seniors, recently, MZ generation individuals have been voluntarily writing wills, experiencing end-of-life simulations, and expressing their intentions regarding advance life-sustaining treatment in various forms.

According to a media report on the 10th, Seo Jisoo, CEO of MangoHada, predicted that the well-dying market will grow at an average annual rate of over 7% for the next five years. In particular, the MZ generation’s interest in end-of-life experience as a special event is increasing. A representative from Baekseok Well-Dying Healing Center in Cheonan, which operates programs such as wearing burial clothes, writing and reading wills, and coffin experience, stated, “Nearly half of recent users are in their 20s and 30s.”

Earlier, Green Umbrella, Kim & Chang Social Contribution Committee, and the well-dying platform ‘MangoHada’ conducted the ‘First Will Writing’ campaign last September on ‘Legacy Donation Day’ to promote the culture of wills.

Yonhap News

‘First Will Writing’ was designed to provide participants with the experience of writing a will, helping them reflect on the meaning of wills and lowering the psychological barrier to wills to activate the will culture. On the Green Umbrella website, users can easily write a will by answering a few questions. The cumulative number of wills written through this campaign has reached 2,092 so far.

The number of MZ generation individuals deciding in advance whether to receive life-sustaining treatment is also increasing. An advance life-sustaining treatment directive is a procedure to decide beforehand whether to receive life-sustaining treatment during the end-of-life process and to communicate that intention to public institutions. It was introduced with the enactment of the Life-Sustaining Treatment Decision Act (Well-Dying Act) in 2016.

As of October this year, 2,627,863 people have written advance life-sustaining treatment directives at the National Life-Sustaining Treatment Management Agency, among whom the number of people in their 20s and 30s surged from 4,198 in 2019 to 22,863.