The share of men among recipients of parental leave benefits in South Korea reached a record high last year, while the employment gap between men and women narrowed and the number of dual-income households continued to rise. Still, women with young children remain far more likely to leave their jobs.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family released the findings on the 3rd in a report titled "Statistical Portrait of Men and Women in Korea 2026," published to mark Gender Equality Week. The report tracks social and economic changes among men and women through 48 indicators across nine areas, including population and households, the labor market, work-life balance and decision-making.
The number of workers using childcare programs rose sharply. Recipients of parental leave benefits totaled 184,329 last year, more than double the figure in 2015. Men accounted for 36.5% of them, the highest share on record and more than 30 percentage points above the 5.6% recorded a decade earlier.
Recipients of benefits for reduced working hours during childcare reached 39,400 last year, up 48% from a year earlier. The program compensates parents for part of the wages they lose when they cut their working hours to care for children. Flexible work arrangements were used by 13.9% of women and 18.5% of men. Women most often used staggered start and finish times, at 34.4%, while men most often chose flexible scheduling, at 33.7%.
The employment gap between the sexes gradually narrowed. Among people in their 20s and 30s, the employment rate last year was 68.2% for women and 74.5% for men. Compared with 2015, the rate for women rose 10.2 percentage points while the rate for men fell 1.2 percentage points. The gap in labor force participation among those aged 15 and over also narrowed.
Dual-income households are increasing every year. They accounted for 48.6% of all married-couple households last year. Among households with children under 18, the share of dual-income households rose to 60.4% from 47.2% in 2015.
Career interruptions tied to childcare, however, persisted among women. Among married women aged 15 to 54, 14.9% had quit a job last year. The rate was 31.7% for women with children aged 6 or younger, far higher than the 6.8% for women without children, indicating that raising children remains a heavy burden on women's careers.
Population aging was pronounced. People aged 50 and over make up 46% of the total population this year, up 11.8 percentage points from a decade earlier. By age group, those in their 50s made up the largest share for both men and women. Households of older adults living alone are also increasing. As of last year, there were 1.655 million single-person households headed by women aged 65 and over and 801,000 headed by men in that age group, accounting for 40.1% and 19.4% of all single-person households, respectively.
While more single-person households are made up of women, men had weaker social support networks. Asked about difficult situations — needing someone to help with housework while ill, or needing someone to talk to when feeling discouraged or depressed — a higher share of men than women said they had no one to turn to. In 2024, lonely deaths totaled 3,205 among men and 605 among women, with the figure for men about 5.3 times that for women.
Won Min-kyung, the minister of gender equality and family, said there were positive indicators, including rising subjective life satisfaction among both men and women, but also difficulties, noting that career interruptions among women persist and that a higher share of men report having no one to turn to for help. The minister pledged to do everything possible to pursue policies that benefit both men and women.
