• 2022 Seoul Survey to analyze the daily lives of citizens, foreigners, and parents in Seoul
• Utilization of survey results as fundamental data for policies
• Rise in citizens’ cultural and outdoor activities in 2022 as part of the citywide return to normlacy
• Seoul, “a trendy city that strives to achieve cultural value” to foreigners; over half recommends living in Seoul (57.1%)
• Decrease in discrimination experienced by foreigners by 15%p (53.1% in 2020 → 38.1% in 2022), showing higher happiness index value than Seoul citizens
• Seoul parents showed low satisfaction in leisure life than unmarried couples or those with no children, but had higher happiness index values and lower levels of loneliness

□ The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) announced the results of the 2022 Seoul Survey by analyzing the average daily lives of citizens, foreigners, and parents of preschool children in Seoul.

□ This survey was conducted to make a statistical analysis by focusing on cases including the following: the daily lives of Seoul citizens (e.g. cultural and leisure activities of citizens during COVID-19); how foreigners living in Seoul felt about living in this city (e.g. their sense of belonging, image of Seoul, discrimination, difficulties of living in Seoul, whether they would recommend living in Seoul); the daily lives of parents of preschool children (e.g. distance from home to workplaces, division of household labor, child-rearing, nursery facility satisfaction level, level of support on child-rearing policies, leisure life).

□ The city plans to use the results of this survey as fundamental data for various policy development and research that will contribute to its goal of making Seoul an attractive city of inclusion.

Daily Lives of Citizens in Seoul (2022)

Citywide return to normalcy (pre-pandemic recovery)

□ 2022 was a year of citywide return to normalcy to pre-pandemic life. Compared to the previous year, offline cultural activities (e.g. theater, cinema, exhibitions, fairs) and social activities (e.g. clubs, social gatherings, alumni meetings) greatly increased. In the case of activities during free time, outdoor activities increased drastically while the online counterpart decreased at a great degree.

□ Furthermore, through Seoul’s big data (e.g. credit card, de facto population), it was identified that the lives of citizens were recovering to pre-pandemic times (2020).

• Credit card payments and sales (daily average) that shriveled during the pandemic started to increase from 2021, and figures in 2022 increased to be more than figures from 2019.
• The de facto population in Seoul (daily average) decreased with the outbreak of COVID-19 and showed the lowest figure in 2021, and figures in 2022 began to recover.

“I’m a Seoul citizen, and I want to keep living in Seoul.”

□ In 2022, survey results showed that foreigners living in Seoul expressed that they “live in Seoul” rather than “live in Korea.”

□ In 2022, the rate of discrimination that Seoul-residing foreigners experienced was 38.1%, which is a drastic 15%p decrease from 53.1% in 2020.

• Places where they faced discrimination, from the location with the highest rate, were workplaces/worksites (27.9%), restaurants/stores/banks, etc. (19.7%), landlords or real estate businesses (17.4%), and public agencies (16.6%).
• The reasons of discrimination, from the one with the highest rate, were their nationality (46.8%), Korean proficiency (40.5%), and appearance (skin color) (35.8%).

□ The difficulties they had while living in Seoul, from the most common, were as follows: childrearing and education; obtaining opportunities of economic activity; andsecuring residence, such housing. The difficulties foreigners experience varied by age groups, but their trend shared similarities with each age group of Seoul citizens.
 

□ Despite the difficulties foreigners faced while living in an unfamiliar city of Seoul, the foreigners living in the area were happier than its citizens. Over half of the foreign residents living in Seoul wished to continue to reside in the city (56.3%) and recommended the life in Seoul (57.1%).

• Happiness index: Seoul-residing foreigners (7.07 points), Seoul citizens (6.72 points)

Daily Lives of Parents in Seoul

□ Households with preschool children (ages 0 to 6) in 2021 were around 250,000, which is a decrease of around 85,000 (-25.4%) from the approximate 335,000 households in 2017.
Every year, households with one preschool child increases while those with two or more decreases.

Childrearing and fostering by parents in Seoul

□ The burden of mothers was still high in terms of childrearing in Seoul. In cases of double-income households with preschool children, 58.7% of fathers commuted to other districts or cities, while 68.0% of mothers commuted to the neighborhoods or districts in which they lived. The average commuting time of double-income couples were 29.5 minutes for mothers and 38.0 minutes for fathers.

□ The share of the division of household labor in families with preschool children was mostly borne by the mother, showing a rate of 78.8% for single-income families and 51.2% for double-income families; however, in the case of double-income families, household labor was divided equally between the husband and wife for 48.0% of the total.

□ When asked about their most influential stress factors, mothers and fathers from families with preschool children stated different answers. Regardless of coming from single or double-income families, fathers stated their most influential stress factor to be social life-related reasons (personal relationships, overwork, etc.), while the mothers’ main reasons for stress included taking care of the family and household labor. The stress level of family-rearing and household labor in mothers from single-income families were much higher than mothers from double-income families.

□ The satisfaction level of nursery facilities, from the highest, were workplace daycare (4.44 points), national and public daycare (3.81 points), and private/individual/family daycare (3.80 points). Parents were highly satisfied with workplace daycare as their children could be cared for in locations near them. The operation of national and public daycare in Seoul, which showed a high satisfaction level, took up 40.1% of the total, showing the highest figure in all of Korea. However, it is lower than the OECD average (66% in 2017).