Middle-aged residents [Yonhap]
Middle-aged residents [Yonhap]

Middle-aged households in Seoul believe they need an average of 3.21 million won ($2,290) a month to get by, according to a new survey. Respondents said 1.96 million won was the bare minimum to maintain basic living standards, while 5.4 million won a month was needed for a comfortable lifestyle.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Thursday that Kye Bong-o, a sociology professor at Kookmin University, conducted an online survey of 2,058 Seoul residents between the ages of 40 and 64 in June and July, in collaboration with the Seoul50Plus Foundation.

The survey was designed to assess how stably middle-aged residents are managing their lives amid major life transitions — including retirement, changes in health and the burden of family caregiving. Researchers measured and quantified the findings across three broad categories: foundational capacity, daily-life capacity and transitional capacity.

Each category was further broken down into 12 domains and 75 detailed indicators. Foundational capacity covered household finances, employment and housing. Daily-life capacity focused on health and well-being, caregiving, and culture and leisure. Transitional capacity measured respondents' ability to navigate life changes after middle age, including career transitions, retirement preparation and adaptation to digital technology.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said the index was the first domestic attempt to comprehensively measure the lives of middle-aged residents through a single integrated framework, rather than through individual statistics or assessments of specific areas.

The living-cost baseline survey found that Seoul middle-aged households estimated their monthly expenses at a minimum of 1.96 million won, an adequate level of 3.21 million won and a comfortable level of 5.4 million won.

The figures do not simply tally actual spending — they reflect what middle-aged residents themselves perceive as necessary to sustain their lives. Researchers applied a statistical correction to account for the tendency of higher-income respondents to report higher required living costs.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said the survey was meaningful because, unlike existing consumption and expenditure statistics, it captured what middle-aged residents actually consider necessary for their daily lives.

The city plans to use the index to track annual changes in the lives of middle-aged residents, accumulate the resulting data and incorporate it into future policy development for that age group.

Kye is scheduled to present the findings in detail at a forum. At the same event, Choi Young-seop, a professor at the HRD Graduate School of Korea University of Technology and Education, will present research on identifying suitable jobs for middle-aged workers, along with training by job type and pathways into the labor market.

Song Min-hye, a senior researcher on the policy research team at the Seoul50Plus Foundation, will outline directions for middle-aged education and training, while Kang So-rang, the team's head, will present proposals for expanding Seoul's policy services for middle-aged residents based on data.

The discussion that follows will be moderated by Hwang Seon-jae, a sociology professor at Chungnam National University. Kim Ji-hyeon of the Seoul50Plus Foundation, Yun Ye-ji, chief executive of Dacube, and Yang Hong-mo, a deputy manager at the Korea Information & Communication Qualification Association, will participate to discuss the direction of middle-aged policy and its applicability in practice.

Kang Myeong, chief executive of the Seoul50Plus Foundation, said the forum was "a place to look at the diverse lives middle-aged people have lived through data, and to collectively explore how to open up new possibilities for work in industrial settings and in everyday communities," adding that the city would use the forum's discussions to shape Seoul-style policies for middle-aged residents.

Experts say that because middle-aged people simultaneously face income changes around retirement, caregiving burdens and rising healthcare costs, a survey of their perceived living expenses can serve as an important foundation for policy design. They note that improving financial stability for this age group will require a coordinated approach spanning extended employment, re-employment support, vocational training, and housing and caregiving assistance.


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