South Korea adjusts to single-person homes

Households of one person will be most common living arrangement by end of 2012.

By the end of this year, households consisting of a single person will be the most common living arrangement in South Korea.

They will make up 25 per cent of all households, a ratio that has doubled in the last 20 years.

Companies are responding to this trend, for example, by making ready-to-eat or easy-to-cook food in smaller serving sizes.

The rapid growth in single-person households also worries the government.

A lower marriage rate, in conservative South Korea means a low-birth rate, which equals fewer workers to support an aging population.

Al Jazeera’s Florence Looi reports from Seoul.

Source: Al Jazeera