According to Kim Yoo-kyung, a researcher at the state-run Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, one and two-person households accounted for 48.2 percent of the country's total households in 2010, compared with 22.8 percent tallied in 1990.
Households with 4-5 people, on the other hand, nearly halved from 58.2 percent to 30.6 percent during the 20-year period, Kim said in a report.
In 2010, one-person households constituted 23.9 percent of the total, compared with 9 percent in 1990. The comparable figure stood at 24.3 percent for households with two people (13.8 percent in 1990), 21.3 percent for three-person households (19.1 percent), 22.5 percent for households with four people (29.5 percent) and 8.1 percent for five-person households (28.7 percent).
The researcher attributed the changing household structure to the rise of individualism, aging population, low birthrate, late marriage and an increase in the divorce rate.
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