Half of Korean Children and Teenagers `Not Happy`

Half of Korean children and teenagers say they are unhappy, the results of a survey released yesterday said.

The survey was conducted by a Yonsei University research center for social development and polled 5,000 students from the fourth to 11th grades nationwide from February to May this year. The results were compared to those from a United Nations Children’s Fund in 2006.

The center said, “Korean society is well structured in health, education and safety, but the happiness level of children and teenagers is low.”

The survey measured subjective happiness of students by asking them six questions on areas such as health, satisfaction with school life, and material happiness.

On subjective happiness, Korean students got 71.7 out of 100 points, the lowest among 20 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The figure was more than 40 points lower than that of leader Greece (114). The share of students who consider themselves “happy” was 55.4 percent, much lower than the OECD average of 84.8 percent.

Going to the subjective life satisfaction index with one being the lowest and five the highest, elementary school students got four points; middle school students 3.4, and high schoolers 3.1. For the index surveying scholastic achievement, education participation, and desire to study, Korea ranked second with 120 points among 24 OECD countries after Belgium (121 points).

yunjung@donga.com