The Old "Clothing, Food, and Housing" No More... New Top 3 Consumer Priorities: Food, Finance, and Housing

Korea Consumer Agency Releases "2025 Korea Consumer Life Index"
Food and Dining, Finance and Insurance, Housing and Household Top the List
Clothing Drops to Fourth Place

The three major consumer spending indicators have shifted from the traditional "clothing, food, and housing" to "food, finance, and housing." "Finance" (financial and insurance services) newly emerged among the top three sectors, while "clothing" dropped in ranking.

On December 19, the Korea Consumer Agency announced the release of the "2025 Korea Consumer Life Index," which contains these findings. The Consumer Life Index survey is a biennial report published by the Korea Consumer Agency to improve consumer policy, based on one-on-one interviews with 10,000 consumers nationwide.

Citizens shopping at the market (This photo is not directly related to the article). The Asia Business Daily DB

This year, the sectors consumers considered most important in their daily lives were food and dining (29.0%), finance and insurance (10.8%), and housing and household (10.6%), in that order.

In the 2023 survey, "clothing" ranked second overall, but this year it fell to fourth place, while "finance and insurance," previously fourth, rose to second. This shift is attributed to growing interest in financial products amid rising economic uncertainty caused by high interest rates, high inflation, and volatile exchange rates both domestically and internationally.

The perceived importance of "finance and insurance" increased across all age groups, with the highest importance among those in their 50s (14.3%), followed by those in their 40s (12%) and 30s (11.6%).

Consumer Life Satisfaction Down 4.4 Points from Previous Year... Proportion Experiencing Consumer Issues Rises to 50%

This year, consumer life satisfaction scored 63.7 points, a decrease of 4.4 points from the previous survey. By sector, satisfaction was highest for "personal hygiene and beauty" (including cosmetics and beauty services) at 72.1 points.

In contrast, "finance and insurance" recorded the lowest satisfaction at 66.2 points, indicating that while consumers view finance as important, they are not satisfied with related spending. The Korea Consumer Agency identified information asymmetry in insurance and fund products, as well as a lack of financial literacy, as the main reasons for the decline in satisfaction.

Compared to the 2023 survey, the sector with the largest drop in satisfaction was ICT (information and communication technology). Satisfaction in the ICT sector fell by 3 points to 68.7.

Some 50.4% of consumers reported experiencing problems in their consumer lives, an increase of 13.7 percentage points from the previous survey. The sector with the largest increase in reported issues was "food and dining" (33.9%, or 3,390 respondents), with "high prices relative to product value" cited as the main problem by 21.8% (1,098 respondents). Next was the ICT sector, cited by 18.2% (1,822 respondents), who pointed to "concerns about personal information leaks and fraud" as the main issue.

For the newly added survey item on generative artificial intelligence (AI) services this year, 24.3% (268 respondents) of 1,101 online subscription service users said they paid for a subscription. The paid subscription rate was higher among younger age groups: 29.8% for those in their 30s and 30.1% for those in their 20s.

In addition, 73.1% of consumers made purchases through e-commerce, with mobile shopping showing the highest usage rate at 91.8%. The usage rate of financial platforms was 45.3%, up 7 percentage points from the previous survey, marking the largest increase among the categories.

However, only 37.6% of respondents said they could resolve digital security incidents-such as account theft, device hacking, or malware infection-on their own. The Korea Consumer Agency pointed out the need for consumers to strengthen their capabilities to respond to digital security incidents.