Korea ranked first in housing among 38 OECD countries but placed near the bottom in social connections and life satisfaction. The country ranked 19th overall, placing in the middle tier, as weak social ties and poor labor conditions dragged down quality of life despite generally strong material conditions.

The findings were published Monday in an independent well-being assessment titled "Trends and Implications of the OECD Better Life Index" by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. The calculation, based on the updated Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Better Life Index, compares quality of life across 11 dimensions, including housing, health, education, environment and social connections.

The results varied widely across categories. While Korea ranked first in housing and second in knowledge and skills, it landed in the bottom tier in other areas, ranking 35th in subjective well-being, 36th in job quality and 37th in social connections.

The housing domain was evaluated based on overcrowding and housing affordability. Korea scored 8.97 points to rank eighth in overcrowding, which indicates the proportion of households lacking rooms relative to household size, and 9.96 points to rank second in housing affordability, which measures the proportion of income available for living expenses excluding housing costs. Combining these two indicators, the country placed first in the report's housing category. However, the calculation used nationwide data, including lower-cost regions outside major metropolitan areas, and excluded loan repayments.

Korea ranked second in knowledge and skills. The average math score for 15-year-olds in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) was 527.3 points, the second-highest among OECD nations.

However, the country ranked near the bottom in several subjective well-being indicators. Life satisfaction stood at 6.5 out of 10 points to rank 36th, while 14.85 percent of the population reported experiencing more negative than positive emotions daily, ranking 29th. Overall, the subjective well-being category placed 35th.

Social connection indicators also pointed to widespread isolation. The social connections category scored 2.42 out of 10 points to rank 37th, leaving Japan as the only nation below Korea. Within this category, Korea ranked last in the social support indicator, which measures whether people have relatives or friends they can count on in times of need, with 20.64 percent reporting no one to rely on.

Labor conditions remained among the worst. The proportion of people working 50 hours or more per week was 13.69 percent, ranking 34th. The women's median wage was 28.95 percent lower than men's, representing the largest gender wage gap in the OECD. The country also ranked poorly on several inequality and poverty metrics, with the top 20 percent earning 5.77 times as much as the bottom 20 percent, ranking 27th.

The report put Korea's rate of combined deaths from suicide, alcohol and drug abuse at 27.97 per 100,000 people, the eighth-highest rate among the 38 countries assessed. In contrast, the country's life expectancy of 83.5 years ranked fifth, highlighting a stark contrast between longevity and lived well-being.

Jeong Hae-sik, the report's author, suggested the government implement policies to improve quality of life.

"Norway showed relatively balanced development across all areas to rank first overall," Jeong said. "Korea needs policies aimed at improving quality of life, as the nation remains vulnerable in inequality indicators, social connections and subjective well-being."

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.