Seoul: South Koreans' average satisfaction with life remained unchanged from a year earlier in 2024, while the suicide rate went up, a government report showed Thursday.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the level of life satisfaction came to 6.4 points on a 10-point scale in 2024, remaining unchanged from 2023, as reported in the annual survey on South Koreans' quality of life by the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

Income appeared to have influenced life satisfaction, with the lowest scores among households earning less than 1 million won (US$681.7) monthly, at 5.8 points. Conversely, life satisfaction levels in households earning 3 million won or more per month ranged from 6.4 to 6.5 points, aligning closely with the national average, the ministry stated.

In assessing South Koreans' life satisfaction compared to other OECD countries, the ministry referenced a separate report by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. South Korea ranked 33rd among the 38 OECD countries based on a three-year average of life satisfaction from 2022 to 2024, with a score of 6.04 points. This figure is below the OECD average of 6.5.

Meanwhile, the suicide rate rose for the second consecutive year, with 29.1 suicides per 100,000 people in 2024-1.8 more than the previous year and the highest since 2011, when the rate was 31.7, the ministry reported.

The report also indicated a rise in negative emotions, measuring depression and anxiety on a 10-point scale, which increased by 0.7 points to 3.8 in 2024. Age was a factor, as those aged 60 and older experienced the highest levels of negative emotion, while those in their 20s reported the lowest levels, the survey found.

South Korea's gross national income reached 43.8 million won per person in 2024, marking a 3.5 percent increase from the previous year. However, wage inequality widened, and the relative poverty rate increased by 0.4 percentage points to 15.3 percent during the same period.

Additionally, the employment rate for university graduates fell by 0.8 percentage points to 69.5 percent last year, marking the first year-on-year decline since 2020, when the rate dropped by 2 percentage points to 65.1 percent.