South Koreans more unhappy and unhealthy than other Asians

South Korea has one of the highest suicide rates and lowest fertility rates in the world. No wonder its "subjective well-being" scores near the bottom of public opinion polls / Korea Ginseng Corporation PHOTO

By Joel Lee

South Koreans are unhappier and unhealthier than other less wealthy Asian neighbors, a public opinion poll showed Tuesday, reflecting depressing levels of sentiments on people’s lives in Asia’s fourth-largest economy nation.

According to a joint survey – 2014 Well-being Index – by public opinion research company Gallup and health and well-being improvement firm Healthways, South Korea came 75th out of 135 countries, coming below India (71th) and Iraq (73th).

The poll, based on a survey of 133,000 individuals over age 15, examined subjective perceptions people have on their life goals, social relationships, economic standings, faith in community and physical health.

For each criterion, participants were asked to pick one out of three categories: “thriving,” “struggling” and “suffering.” On the life goal category, 46 percent of South Koreans responded they are struggling; 40 percent suffering; and only 14 percent thriving.

On social relations, 47 percent of them said to be struggling, while on faith in community and physical health, 63 percent and 65 percent, respectively, said they are struggling.

In a separate survey released by the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last Sunday, 13 percent of adults said they have experienced depression in their lives.

South Korea, a “developed country” with a $32,000 gross domestic product (purchasing power parity) per capita and the world’s 15th largest economy, has experienced a deluge of exacerbating social and economic problems after the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

The country comes second to none in suicide rates with 29 out of 100,000 Koreans choosing to end their lives in 2012, the highest among the 34-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.

According to Statistics Korea, the suicide rates have tripled over the last two decades, with the country’s elderly population having one of the highest rates in the world. The elderly suicide rates in 2011 stood at 80 people out of 100,000, compared to 30 in Japan, 28 in France and 17 in Sweden.

South Korea’s birthrate fell to the lowest level on record last year at 8.6 babies per 1,000 people. A National Assembly-commissioned study reported in mid-Aug that the nation could face natural extinction by 2750 if the present fertility rate, at 1.19 children per woman, continued.

Critics point to the work-life imbalance, elderly poverty, high education costs for children and high household debt – in the absence of social safety net – as the leading causes behind the country’s “Easterlin (Happiness) Paradox.”