Single-person households spend more on alcohol: report

South Korea’s single-person households proportionally spent more on alcohol than households with two or more people last year, a report showed Sunday.

According to the Korea Rural Economic Institute’s report that analyzed the Statistics Korea’s data from 2021, single-person households spent 10.6 percent of their processed food spending on buying alcoholic beverages, whereas households with two or more people allocated 7.3 percent.

The report showed that younger people living alone were the biggest drinkers, as single-person households in their 20s and 30s spent 15.6 percent of total processed food spending on alcohol, the biggest proportion among all household types by age. 

For single-person households, beer was the processed food product accounting for the fourth-highest spending, at 5.1 percent, following bread, snacks and frozen foods. Soju, a distilled Korean liquor, was 12th at 3.0 percent.

The report said monthly spending on alcohol had steadily increased to 17,449 won ($14) in 2021, up 11.3 percent on year. Between 2010 and 2021, the average annual growth rate of spending on alcohol was 7 percent, it added.

The type of drink also varied depending on household income, according to the report.

Households in the top 20 percent by income spent more on beer than other households. On the other hand, households in the bottom 20 percent by income spent more on soju.

Overall, refined grains, such as flour, rice and bread, took the biggest portion of processed food spending at 20.6 percent, the report showed.

By Kan Hyeong-woo (hwkan@heraldcorp.com)