People in their 60s now make up the largest share of the country's one-person households, as rapid aging and changes in marriage and family life reshape the profile of those living alone.
For Kim H.S., a restaurant owner in his 50s in Seoul's Apgujeong district, this year's Chuseok will be spent with his dog.
"Christmas has Kevin. Chuseok has Dong-ju," Kim joked, referring to the dog that will keep him company over the holiday.
Heo D.E., who is in his 40s and lives alone in Seoul, has no special plans for Chuseok either. He plans to catch up on chores and enjoy time by himself rather than travel to see relatives.
“I have to clean the house, and going all the way to see relatives almost feels like another work shift,” Heo said. “I would rather find a good restaurant on my own and spend the rest of the holiday playing Nintendo.”
Their plans reflect a broader shift in how South Koreans spend Chuseok, traditionally one of the country's most family-centered holidays.
A survey conducted by research firm PMI from Sept. 11 to 14 among 1,000 adults aged 20 to 69 found that 59.6 percent planned to rest at home during this year's Chuseok holiday. Among respondents aged 60 and older, the share rose to 67.5 percent.
Jeon Young-soo, a professor of Sustainable Economy at Hanyang University's Graduate School of International Studies, said the tradition of extended families gathering for holidays is weakening as household structures and values change.
"Society usually changes gradually, but Korean society is changing extraordinarily fast," Jeon said. "The long-held expectation that families gather for holidays is also weakening."
He pointed to financial pressures and changing values behind the shift.
"The traditions and customs built around large families are weakening as people increasingly put their own economic circumstances and priorities first," he said.
The change runs deeper than how people spend a holiday.
South Korea had 8.244 million one-person households in 2025, up 2.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics' 2025 Population and Housing Census released on July 28. They accounted for 36.6 percent of general households, up from 36.1 percent in 2024.
People in their 60s accounted for the largest share, at 17.7 percent, or about 1.46 million households. Those in their 30s followed at 17.5 percent. People aged 20 or younger accounted for 16.9 percent, while those in their 50s made up 15.0 percent, or about 1.23 million households.
The direction of change is increasingly toward older solo households.
The number of one-person households among people aged 20 or younger fell 2.6 percent in 2025, while those among people in their 50s and 60s rose 1.7 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.
The fastest increase came among people in their 70s, whose one-person households jumped 9.6 percent in a year. Those aged 80 or older recorded another 4.4 percent increase. Only the youngest age group posted a decline.
The figures show that living alone is no longer primarily a young, urban phase before marriage or family formation.
Jeon traced the shift to social changes that have accumulated over decades.
"The generation now in their 50s and 60s came of age in the 1990s, when attitudes toward marriage and living independently began to change," he said.
Delayed marriage was one route toward long-term singlehood.
"Many married later, and for some, putting off marriage eventually led to never marrying at all."
Divorce and the death of a spouse created other paths into living alone, he said.
"These trends have built up over time, so the number of one-person households was bound to grow," Jeon said.
The July 28 census showed that the population aged 65 or older reached 10.72 million in 2025, or 20.7 percent of the population. It was the first time the share exceeded 20 percent since the national census began in 1925.
Older adults living alone are also becoming more common across the country.
Households made up entirely of people aged 65 or older reached 4.313 million in 2025, up 7.6 percent from a year earlier, while older adults living alone accounted for 10.9 percent of all general households.
Aging and the loss of a spouse account for part of the increase. Divorce is another factor pushing some people into solo living later in life, although official statistics do not show how many divorced people subsequently form one-person households.
The MODS's 2025 Marriage and Divorce Statistics, released on March 19, recorded about 88,000 divorces, down 3.3 percent from 2024. The divorce rate fell to 1.7 per 1,000 people.
The average age at divorce rose to 51.0 for men and 47.7 for women.
Couples married for 30 years or longer accounted for 17.7 percent of all divorces, the largest share by marriage duration. They were followed by couples married for five to nine years at 17.3 percent and those married for four years or less at 16.3 percent.
Jeon said changing attitudes toward marriage and individual priorities help explain the pattern.
"In the past, family and relationships tended to take priority," he said. "Now people place greater value on their own lives, and when conflicts emerge, they are more willing to walk away from marriage."
People are also becoming less dependent on family for support and companionship, he said.
"People can now find outside the family many of the things that families once provided," Jeon said. "That makes people less willing to endure an unhappy relationship at all costs."
Social barriers to divorce have eased as well.
"Changing attitudes have also made divorce more socially acceptable."
For people who live alone, companionship can take different forms. Like Kim, some turn to pets.
A Korea Insurance Research Institute report published on Dec. 26, 2023, based on the MODS's 2020 Population and Housing Census, found that 503,987 households headed by people aged 65 or older owned a pet. That represented 10.6 percent of elderly households. Of those, 126,826 were one-person households.
The changing face of solo living is also broadening the policy debate.
Policies for one-person households have often focused on young adults struggling with housing costs and older people vulnerable to isolation. But the latest census points to a large group in between: people in their 50s and 60s who may still be economically active but live without a spouse or children.
Their circumstances vary widely depending on how they came to live alone — through non-marriage, divorce, widowhood or children leaving home — making them difficult to address through a single policy approach.
Jeon said public perceptions have changed much faster than institutions built around traditional family structures.
"Policy is falling further behind reality," he said.
Long-term projections show why that gap could widen.
The MODS's Household Projections for 2022 to 2052, released on Sept. 12, 2024, projected that one-person households would increase from 7.389 million in 2022 to 9.620 million in 2052. Their share of all households is projected to rise from 34.1 percent to 41.3 percent.
The shift is even more pronounced among older adults.
The number of one-person households headed by someone aged 65 or older is projected to rise from 1.923 million in 2022 to 4.961 million in 2052. Their share of all one-person households would increase from 26.0 percent to 51.6 percent.
People aged 80 or older alone are projected to account for 23.8 percent of all one-person households by then.
Jeon said policies should move beyond treating people who live alone mainly as a vulnerable group and instead help them remain independent as solo living becomes an increasingly common way of life.
"Many systems were designed around the traditional four-person family," Jeon said. "They need to be adjusted so that one-person households are also fully covered and not put at a disadvantage."
This Chuseok, some homes will be filled with relatives. Others will be quieter, shared with a dog or no one else at all.
The contrast reflects something larger than a changing holiday tradition. It is changing what home and family mean in an aging Korea.
AJP Takeaways
- South Korea had 8.244 million one-person households in 2025, accounting for 36.6 percent of general households, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics' 2025 Population and Housing Census released on July 28, 2026.
- People in their 60s made up the largest share of one-person households at 17.7 percent in 2025, while solo households among people in their 50s and 60s continued to increase as the youngest group declined.
- South Korea recorded about 88,000 divorces in 2025, down 3.3 percent from 2024, but the average age at divorce rose to 51.0 for men and 47.7 for women.
- The Ministry of Data and Statistics projects one-person households will reach 9.620 million by 2052, with those headed by people aged 65 or older accounting for 51.6 percent of the total.
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