Recently, the National Statistical Office(NSO)통계청 said the number of single households in Korea is growing. According to the NSO, one out of every five people lives on their own. The number of the single households has increased 42.5 percent from 2.2 million five years ago.
On the other hand, the number of larger families with more than four members has decreased, whereas the number of families with one or two in the household has increased over the last five years.
The statistical office said a growing number of unmarried people in their 30s have contributed to the trend. The number of unmarried people in their 30s was 76,000 in 1995 and more than doubled to 1.7 million in 2005.
Other countries have seen the same trend as Korea. Unmarried singles in China are expected to reach 91.3 million by 2014 as the number increases 1.5 percent every year. Britain also has seen about 150,000 singles every year due to the trend of increasing divorce and separation of families.
Koreans think 2.7 billion won makes them feel rich
A recent research showed that most Koreans think at least 2.7 billion won would make them feel rich. Hangil Research and Consulting surveyed 904 people over 19 years old and found the average amount they felt would make them feel rich was 2.7 billion won.
The 2.7 billion won is 700 million won higher than last year’s survey on the same question. According to experts, price hikes in real estate possibly lay behind this psychological inflation.
However, most respondents thought that becoming rich was impossible for them as they thought getting that amount of money was unrealistic. Only 6.7 percent said they could make it, while 17.1 percent said it was impossible and 47.1 percent replied very unlikely.
The research showed that older people were seen to be more realistic. The older, less educated and lower earning they were, the more likely they gave up on their dream to become wealthy; 77.4 percent of respondents aged over 50 said it was impossible for them to be rich. The figure to feel rich is 1,642 times the average monthly income of national pension subscribers standing at 1.6 million won.
World's oldest master
Most of you have probably heard the saying, "It is never too old to learn."And a 94-year-old grandmother living in Australia is the living proof! Phyllis Turner is said to have become the world’s oldest person to earn a university masters degree. Turner quit primary school at 12 to help her mother look after her siblings after her father left the family.
Almost 60 years later, at age 70, she returned to study by entering the prestigious Adelaide University to study anthropology. She began studying for her post-graduate degree at age 90 and received her Medical Science Masters Degree last week from the same university. "I feel very very happy after five years of study, but sorry that I am just a little bit immobilized,"Mrs. Turner, who uses a walking stick, told Australian papers. Professor Maciej Henneberg from the university said he had been amazed by Turner’s energy and passion to study. "Mentally, she was like any other student. You couldn’t tell her thinking, enthusiasm and interests apart from somebody who was 25. She has a lively mind,"he told Reuters. "We will be trying to enter her into the Guinness book of world records as the oldest post-graduate degree recipient in the world,"he added.
첫댓글 언니 제가 독해 실력이 영 꽝이지만 열심히 자료읽고 스터디 준비 잘 하고 있답니다.. 귀중한 자료 잘 쓸께요.. 독해의 달인이 되는날까지 ...
즐겁게 읽어줘서 고마워요~~^^ 정숙이 실력이 꽝이라 그러면 다~들 쓰러지쥐~^^