`I Live Alone` 16 Percent, `Only a Married Couple Lives…` 10 Percent

16 out of 100 households in South Korea were reported to be one-person household. Family with female householder comes close to 20 percent.

According to the `2000 year survey on population-housing: household and housing part` announced by the National Statistics Office yesterday, the total number of households in South Korea is 14.391 million, up 1.4 million (10.8 percent) from 1995.

Especially, the number of `one-person households` is 22.24 million, increased by 582,000 (35.4 percent) from 1995. Therefore, the percentage of the one-person household in the total number of households rose from 12.7 percent, which was five years ago, to 15.5 percent.

The number of female householders is 26.53 million, increased by 506,000 (23.6 percent) from 1995. The percentage of female householder increased from 16.6 percent to 18.5 percent of the total number of householders, up 1.9 percent.

Yoon Hyung-Baek, director of the population survey at the National Statistics Office, said that ``the number of one-person households and female householders increased due to the employment of the younger generation and the middle and older generation`s divorce or separation by death.``

In terms of the form of family, the trend towards the `nuclear family` continues. For instance, the family made up of a married couple alone is 10.1 percent, up 26.2 percent from five years ago. The household made up of a married couple and their unmarried children increased by 5.6 percent, and the household consisted of single parent with her or his unmarried children increased by 17.1 percent.

Moreover, a major form of housing has changed from the independent housing to apartment. For instance, the apartment as a major form of housing increased from 37.5 percent in 1995 to 47.7 percent, exceeding the independent housing for the first time.

yhchoi65@donga.com