![Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon poses for a photo with a panel of expert evaluators at the "Walking with the Vulnerable — Charming Seoul" creative presentation event last June. [Seoul Metropolitan Government]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/08/24/news-p.v1.20250625.01599e1130c84862bdd958a7fbc3dedd_P1.jpg)
The results of Seoul's "Walking with the Vulnerable" initiative — the city government's core governing philosophy — show the program's impact has spread across all areas of residents' lives. The 2025 Walking with the Vulnerable Index reached 150.7, marking the first time since the index was introduced that all six categories — livelihood and care, housing, medical care and health, education and culture, safety, and social integration — improved year on year.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced the results of the 2025 index at a briefing held Monday afternoon at Seoul City Hall. The index uses 2022 — the year the city declared its "Walking with the Vulnerable" commitment — as a baseline of 100, and measures the overall change and degree of improvement in policy outcomes. The index has risen for three consecutive years: 111.0 in 2023, 130.6 in 2024 and 150.7 last year.
By category, safety led the overall improvement with a gain of 49.3 points (33.1%), followed by livelihood and care at 31.4 points (24.6%), while education and culture rose 11.4 points (10.2%). Particularly notable was social integration, which had fallen for two consecutive years but rebounded from 95.6 in 2024 to 99.5 last year, driven by increased citizen participation in volunteering and charitable giving.
The assessment was conducted by having citizens and experts comprehensively review policy outcomes based on performance data for each indicator. An external evaluation panel of 50 — including 40 academic and field experts and 10 citizen ombudspersons — convened to examine achievements, limitations and areas for future improvement.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government attributed the gains primarily to proactively identifying residents who had fallen through policy gaps and expanding the scope of eligible recipients and services. In practice, support for small-business owners in crisis more than doubled, from 1,346 people in 2024 to 3,037 last year, while support for isolated and reclusive youth similarly more than doubled, from 891 to 1,882 over the same period. Welfare service referrals for young family caregivers also expanded from 431 to 623, and the public rental housing stock grew by 12,371 units over the year.
The livelihood and care category rose 31.4 points (24.6%), from 127.8 in 2024 to 159.2 last year. Nine of 12 sub-indicators improved, with gains recorded in income stability and closing gaps in care services as the city identified underserved residents and strengthened targeted support.
The housing category turned upward, rising 1.5 points (1.2%) from 120.3 in 2024 to 121.8 last year, driven by expanded public rental housing supply and stronger tailored support for vulnerable groups. The city plans to continue steadily supplying public housing while further expanding housing cost-relief policies — including monthly rent support for youth and interest subsidies on rental deposits — to meet the needs of different groups.
The medical care and health category rose 6.5 points (4.2%), from 156.5 in 2024 to 163.0 last year. The city strengthened community-based health management through home visit services and hospital-accompaniment programs for vulnerable groups, and expanded mental health support for children, adolescents and young adults, sustaining an overall upward trend.
The education and culture category climbed 11.4 points (10.2%), from 111.3 in 2024 to 122.7 last year, as the city reinforced personalized learning and digital education while broadening cultural participation opportunities for residents — including people with disabilities — who face barriers to cultural activities.
The safety category recorded the largest gain among all six categories, rising 49.3 points (33.1%) from 148.9 in 2024 to 198.2 last year, as the city strengthened systems for early detection and support of residents in crisis amid evolving social risks such as social isolation, reclusiveness and solitary death.
The social integration category rose 3.9 points (4.1%), from 95.6 in 2024 to 99.5 last year, as volunteering and charitable giving increased and public awareness of socially vulnerable groups improved.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government uses the index not merely as a report card showing results, but as a management tool for identifying gaps in policy and redesigning budgets and projects accordingly. The city's budget for Walking with the Vulnerable-related programs this year stands at 15.64 trillion won ($11.3 billion), an increase of 870.4 billion won (5.9%) from the previous year.
The index results and performance data for each indicator are available year-round through the Seoul Metropolitan Government's website and its smart data platform, Smart Seoul View.
Lee Dong-ryul, acting head of the city's Planning and Coordination Office, said the across-the-board improvement in all six categories "is the result of continuously identifying blind spots and strengthening necessary support," adding that the city would "improve residents' quality of life by refining projects based on the evaluation findings."
ikson@heraldcorp.com
