By According to a recent survey, Korean Children are the unhappiest among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Member nations.
Children and adolescents in Korea are the least satisfied with their lives among 26 member countries of the OECD. According to a survey released on Tuesday by a research center affiliated with Yonsei University and a foundation named for educator Pang Jong-hwan, only 53.9 percent of 5,437 schoolchildren from fourth grade to 12th said they were satisfied with their lives. That means one in two Korean children and adolescents are dissatisfied.
The survey was compared with a UNICEF study of OECD member countries in 2006. Korea was far below the OECD average of 84.8 percent and marked a decrease from last year’s 55.5 percent. The Netherlands had the largest number of children who were satisfied with 94.2 percent.
It showed that 26.5 percent of children and adolescents in Korea subjectively feel they are unhealthy, while 18.3 percent feel alienated, the highest in the OECD. Almost 17 percent of Korean children and adolescents feel lonely, which put the country second only to Japan’s 29.8 percent. Korean youngsters scored 65.1 points on the “subjective happiness index,” which combines points scored in six different categories, including satisfaction with life and happiness. That was the lowest score in the OECD.
The greatest source of stress was school work, followed by physical appearance and problems with parents. Girls were found to experience over 10 percent more stress than their male counterparts. Boys suffered the most stress over their height starting in the ninth grade, while girls were most stressed by their weight starting in the eighth grade. [The Chosen Ilbo]
Korean youth also study longer and sleep less than any other nation in the OECD.
Korean youth study an average of three hours more per day than adolescents in 30 other OECD member countries, or 15 hours more per week, according to a report released by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs on Thursday. On the other hand, they sleep one hour less compared to their counterparts in five countries — the U.S., the U.K., Sweden, Finland and Germany — and exercise 22 minutes less. [The Chosen Ilbo]
Korean Children are also becoming obese.
Obesity among children and juveniles nearly doubled over the last decade, according to analysis of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for 2007 released by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs on Monday. The rate among youngsters aged two to 18 was 5.8 percent in 1997 but increased to 10.9 percent in 2007. Adult obesity has also been on a rise from 26 percent in 1998 to 31.7 percent in 2007. [The Chosen Ilbo]
Suicide is the number one cause of death among Korean youth.
Suicide is the leading cause of death among young people in South Korea, a report showed Tuesday, indicating that heavy stress from its competitive education environment and job market is taking a lethal toll. According to the report by Statistics Korea, 13.5 out of every 100,000 people aged between 15 and 24 committed suicide in 2008, the highest ratio among all causes of death reported for the age group. [YONHAP News]
I hope these numbers have a positive turn around in the coming years.
2:08 am on May 12th, 2010 1
I remember in the 90′s when high school students would either jump off highrise apartments or set themselves afire because they failed to gain entrance to (name the university). I haven’t heard about such incidents lately, so maybe they have learned to accept their failures.
I’m keenly interested in how this will be twisted and blamed on the US.
1:12 pm on May 12th, 2010 2
I remember my wife telling me, when I married her in the 1970's, that Koreans were a bitter, unhappy people. (compared to what she saw in the rest of the world).
It has always been a part of their culture. Korean history seems to back this up. A cold, harsh, impoverished, land often invaded by others.
Korean "soap operas" give the best evidence of its legacy.
Not unlikely that many "modern" koreans have the same identity as their ancestors.
8:53 am on May 16th, 2010 3
I wonder why TOM had no comment on this story? It is always funny to see Tom judge the U.S. when Korea has these types of issues in its own back yard. It always makes me laugh to see these parents who let their children ride around in the car with no retraint, that just goes to show the "it's all about me" way of thinking that Koreans have.
8:05 am on January 5th, 2011 4
[...] they’re eating so much junk food in the short amount of time they have between classes? That they are the unhappiest of all children in the [...]
9:22 pm on August 4th, 2011 5
[...] eating so much junk food in the short amount of time they have between classes? That they are the unhappiest of all children in the [...]
10:12 am on August 19th, 2011 6
[...] With stress such as this a normal part of the Korean youth experience, it’s no wonder thousands of children, adolescents and teens swarm to talent searches hoping against hope to ascend to stardom. Should they prevail, they will gain the honor attributed to their now-proven beauty, talent, and success. Sure, they’ll train for 10-12 hours a day for the first few years before they (maybe, just maybe) debut, and that the subsequent work schedule (should they make it this far) will probably be even more exhaustive; but could the stress really be any worse than what they deal with in school? [...]