"Overnight Delivery Is a Luxury, Even Regular Delivery Would Help"... As the Young Leave, Refrigerators Are Left Empty [Food Desert]②

No Grocery Stores in 27,609 Administrative Districts
As Young People Flock to Cities, Supermarkets Shut Down
Declining Purchasing Power Leads to Inactive Logistics Chains

Editor's NoteHave you ever found grocery shopping difficult? In an era where you can buy any food you need online or offline at any time, it's almost unimaginable. Yet, in South Korea, there are areas where you can't even walk to a supermarket, and delivery services don't reach, making it hard to obtain food. These places, where finding food is as difficult as finding an oasis in a desert, are called "food deserts." Food deserts are expanding due to factors such as an aging population, rural depopulation, and the digital divide. We want to examine the problems caused by the everyday inconvenience of grocery shopping and invite you to consider them with us.

A "food desert" refers to a region where, due to population decline and other reasons, grocery stores have closed, making it difficult for residents to purchase fresh food. Food deserts emerge at the intersection of various asymmetrical issues such as urban-rural disparities, income inequality, and the digital divide. If these inequalities are not addressed, the scope of food deserts will inevitably continue to expand.

As Young People Leave and Purchasing Power Drops... Marts and Supermarkets Disappear

On the 1st, residents visiting the Door-to-Door Dangjin Rural Mobile Market set up at the Sinchon-ri Village Hall in Hapdeok-eup, Dangjin, Chungnam, are purchasing goods. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

The government plans to devise measures to respond to the expansion of food deserts by assessing the status of grocery retailers and public transportation in administrative villages nationwide, based on the "2025 Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Census" being conducted by the National Data Agency from November 20 to December 22. Experts estimate that food deserts have likely expanded further due to ongoing aging and rural depopulation, even after the "2020 Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Census" found that 27,609 out of 37,563 administrative villages nationwide (74%) had no grocery retailers.

In the previous survey, Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province had the highest proportion of villages without grocery retailers among all provinces (83.62%), followed by Jeollanam-do (83.33%), Gyeongsangbuk-do (78.86%), Chungcheongnam-do (75.1%), and Chungcheongbuk-do (75.04%). There were 14 areas where even neighboring administrative villages had no retailers, requiring residents to drive more than an hour to shop.

The Korea Rural Economic Institute analyzes that food deserts arise from a combination of various factors such as economic power, population, and infrastructure, reflecting multiple aspects of the urban-rural divide. Most food deserts are created through the following process.

First, young people leave for cities for various reasons, leading to population decline. As the economically active generation departs, the purchasing power of the area decreases. Department stores and large supermarkets, which rely on high-spending customers to remain profitable, close down. With no shopping infrastructure available, a vicious cycle ensues as more young people leave for cities.

The number of public transportation options also decreases because there are not enough passengers to break even. In aging regions, few people own cars, and driving is not easy for the elderly. Many rural residents must rely on infrequent buses or ask their children or acquaintances for rides to go shopping. In areas with poor transportation infrastructure, privately run supermarkets and grocery stores cannot sustain logistics and labor costs, leading to closures. Gradually, access to food deteriorates, and ultimately, a food desert is formed.

Can't You Just Order Delivery?... How Distribution Channels Collapse

When entering the address of the village hall in Dogok-ri, Hapdeok-eup, Dangjin-si, Chungnam, a message appears on Rocket Fresh stating that the service is not available in this area. Photo by Jeon Jinyoung.

According to the Korea Institute of Public Finance, as of the end of last year, 123 out of 250 cities, counties, and districts nationwide (49.2%) could not receive overnight delivery services from Coupang, SSG.com, Kurly, or Oasis. This means that in many food deserts, even delivery is not available. As large supermarkets leave, the logistics system essentially collapses. For next-day delivery services that allow you to select fresh food via an app, large logistics centers need to operate 24 hours a day. In the absence of investment incentives, major distribution chains have no reason to build logistics networks that cover food deserts in rural areas.

In regions without grocery retailers, there are usually no restaurants either. It is difficult for food businesses that must bring in fresh ingredients daily and cook them to succeed in such areas. Even if residents use food delivery apps, there are often no restaurants operating in these areas, and even if there are, the area is frequently designated as outside the delivery zone.

The digital divide also plays a role. Even in areas where online grocery services are available, elderly residents who are not adept at using smartphones find it difficult to download and use these services.

On the 1st, large-capacity groceries were displayed at the Hanaro Mart Hapdeok Nonghyup in Dangjin, Chungnam. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

Despite the fact that food deserts encompass various disparities, there is still no clear definition or established concept of food deserts in South Korea. While the concept of food deserts has been studied in Western countries and Japan since the 1990s, it only began to emerge in South Korea in the early 2010s.

The United States Department of Agriculture defines a food desert as an area where fresh food is unavailable within 1 mile (1.6 km) in urban areas or 10 miles (16 km) in rural areas. In Japan, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries defines food deserts as places where grocery stores are more than 500 meters away on foot. However, in South Korea, there is no unified government standard for the term "food desert."

As a result, the term "food desert" itself is often used inconsistently. In academia, terms are already distinguished according to the characteristics of food deserts. For example, food deserts that occur in urban areas are referred to as "food swamps" or "food mirages" overseas. Areas where grocery stores exist but only sell fast food or processed foods, making it difficult to access nutritious fresh food, are called "food swamps." Where grocery stores exist but prices are too high or incomes are too low for residents to make purchases, the term "food mirage" is used.

Experts advise that these distinctions must be considered in the process of developing countermeasures. Yoo Chanhee, a research fellow at the Korea Rural Economic Institute, said, "Personally, I believe it is more appropriate to use travel time as the criterion for food deserts, rather than simply physical distance as in the U.S. or Japan. However, since South Korea lacks clear standards, it is necessary to discuss this issue more rigorously."