One-person households surge

Single-person households increased rapidly to take up over a quarter of Korea’s total thanks to delayed marriages and an aging population.

The reshaping of Korean households is changing the investment landscape in favor of certain industries and companies catering to individualism. They include health care, cosmetics, convenience stores, home meal manufacturing, dining, online shopping and leisure product makers.

Two-person homes were dominant until last year, but were overtaken by one-person households for the first time this year.

While the share of three-person and four-person families continues to shrink, the proportion of single-person households is expected to reach 35 percent by 2035.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)