The year 2026 marks the 30th anniversary of Korea’s membership of the OECD. Korea’s journey to OECD Membership was characterised by a period of remarkable socio‑economic transformation between the mid‑1960s and mid‑1990s, and in the three decades since then it has continued to move forward, becoming a global reference point for technological and cultural innovation. But how has this economic growth and social change impacted inclusive and sustainable well-being in the country? The purpose of this report is to answer this question through the lens of OECD work on well-being measurement and policy practice. Since 2011, the OECD has assessed the state of multidimensional well-being for people, the planet and future generations through the OECD Well-being Framework. In addition to international benchmarking (such as through the flagship How’s Life? Report series, and the OECD Well-being Data Monitor online platform), well-being reports focussing on specific Members allow for an in-depth analysis of country-specific economic, social, environmental, civic and relational well-being outcomes, highlighting inequalities between population groups, and trends over time, in relation to performance in peer countries. This allows to identify potential opportunities for further strengthening inclusive and sustainable well-being in Korea, supported by more recent OECD work on how countries are centring inclusive and sustainable well-being in policy practice.
This report was prepared by the OECD Centre on Well-being, Inclusion, Sustainability and Equal Opportunity (WISE), under the direction of Romina Boarini. It was co‑authored by Kate Scrivens and Elena Tosetto, with editorial inputs from Lara Fleischer and Carrie Exton. Elena Tosetto led the statistical work for this volume, with additional data visualisation support from Kate Chalmers. Martine Zaïda, Anne‑Lise Faron and Taylor Kelly provided support throughout on communication co‑ordination and formatting.
The publication benefitted from valuable comments from colleagues in the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Korea to the OECD, as well as inputs from experts in the Korean Ministry of Data and Statistics, the Ministry of Employment and Labour, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. We are also very grateful for comments received from OECD colleagues: Olivier Thevenon (Child Well-being Division of the WISE Centre); Willem Adema, Veerle Miranda and Doron Wijker (Social Policy Division of the Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs); Emily Hewlett, Francisca Lopes and Marion Devaux (Health Division of the Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs); Christopher Prinz (Employability Division of the Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs); Jon Pareliussen (Country Studies Branch of the Economics Department); and Scherie Nicol (Public Management and Budgeting Division of the Directorate for Public Governance).