Developed by Statistics Korea, Korea’s Quality of Life indicators have been released annually since 2014. They encompass 71 indicators, both objective and subjective, across 11 domains.
Korea’s Quality of Life Indicators
Abstract
In 2011, Statistics Korea (KOSTAT) started to develop its “Quality of Life Indicators in Korea (KQol)”. The data for the indicators have been made available online since 2014. The first Quality of Life Indicators report was published in 2017. Indicators are continuously reviewed by the Committee for KQoL, formed by one expert reviewer and 5 advisors for each domain, such as housing and education. Public consultations were also conducted at the national level in 2018 and 2020 to ensure that the selection of indicators reflected widely-held priorities. The KQoL indicators are released annually and monitor the current state of quality of life in Korean society.
Korea’s Quality of Life Indicators comprise 11 domains and 71 indicators. The domains are family/ community, health, education, employment/wage, income/consumption/wealth, leisure, housing, environment, safety, civic engagement, and subjective well-being. Each domain includes both objective and subjective indicators, which have been selected based on relevance, quality of data, and political neutrality.
The 2022 report covers subjective level at 3 levels: from the perspectives of individuals, social relationships, and environmental conditions. It presents trends in each indicator (showing whether the situation improved, deteriorated, or stayed the same).
The goal of the KQoL indicators is to provide an annual snapshot of Korean society, as well as to facilitate evidence-based policies to improve future performance quality of life outcomes.
Government of South Korea, Indicators website, https://www.index.go.kr/unify/intro.do?page=qol (accessed November 3 2023)
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Statistics Research Institute (2022), 국민 삶의 질 2022 [Quality of Life Indicators in Korea 2022], https://sri.kostat.go.kr/board.es?mid=a90401000000&bid=11477&list_no=423793&act=view&mainXml=Y;
Statistics Research Institute (2017), 국민 삶의 질 지표 개편 [National Report on Quality of Life], https://kostat.go.kr/board.es?mid=a90106000000&bid=12316&act=view&list_no=418664&tag=&nPage=1&ref_bid=
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