4 in 10 Say "Children's Generation Will Not Have a Better Standard of Living Than Themselves"

Survey on Population Change and Social Perceptions by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs
2,500 Adults Polled, Many Express Pessimism
Anxiety About the Future Lives of the Next Generation

More than half of Korean adults perceive that their current standard of living is better than that of their parents' generation. However, less than half believe that the lives of their children will improve in the future.

Yonhap News reported on October 7, citing the results of a "Survey on Population Change and Social Perceptions" conducted last year by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. The survey targeted 2,500 Korean adults aged 20 to 49.

According to the survey, 61.1% of respondents said that their current standard of living is better than that of their parents' generation. Specifically, 26.5% answered "somewhat better," and 34.6% said "much better." In contrast, 10.4% responded "somewhat worse," and 8.3% said "much worse," totaling 18.7% who felt their lives had declined.

Elementary school students going to school. Photo by Yonhap News

However, optimism dropped when respondents were asked about the future standard of living for their children compared to their own. Only 42.3% combined answered "much better" (14.1%) or "somewhat better" (28.2%), falling short of half.

Meanwhile, 28.8% said there would be "little difference from now," while negative outlooks-"somewhat worse" (17.4%) and "much worse" (11.5%)-totaled 28.9%. This clearly reveals anxiety about the future lives of the next generation.

This survey was part of the "German Population Policy Case Study," in which the research team asked the same questions to 2,500 German adults for comparison and analysis.

In Germany, 49.5% of respondents said their current standard of living was "somewhat better" (31.9%) or "much better" (17.6%) compared to their parents' generation.

Regarding prospects for the next generation, only 26.2% in Germany gave negative responses-"much worse" (7.5%) and "somewhat worse" (18.7%)-indicating a somewhat more optimistic outlook for future generations than in Korea.