Six in ten South Koreans now identify themselves as middle class or above, the highest figure since surveys began tracking the metric, according to government data released Thursday.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism unveiled the results of its "2025 Survey on Korean Values and Attitudes," which has tracked shifts in public perception since 1996 and has been conducted every three years since 2013. This marks the ninth iteration of the survey.
The proportion of respondents who identified themselves as middle class or above reached 60.5%, up 18.1 percentage points from 42.4% in the previous 2022 survey. This is the first time the figure has exceeded 60% since the survey began.
However, analysts note that changes in survey methodology may have influenced the results. The 2022 survey offered three response options—below middle class, middle class, and above middle class—while this year's survey used five categories: upper, upper-middle, middle, lower-middle, and lower. The expanded range of choices may have contributed to the increase in middle-class-or-above responses.
In contrast to elevated economic self-perception, happiness levels declined sharply. The proportion of respondents who said they were happy fell to 51.9%, down 13.1 percentage points from 65.0% in 2022. Meanwhile, those reporting unhappiness more than tripled over the same period, rising from 4.6% to 15.1%.
The survey also revealed notable shifts in how Koreans envision their country's future. "A country with mature democracy" emerged as the most desirable vision at 31.9%, marking the first time this response has ranked first. "An economically wealthy country," which had consistently topped the rankings, fell to second place at 28.2%. This was followed by "a country with strong social welfare" (16.9%), "a country with strong national defense" (11.6%), and "a country centered on culture and arts" (10.7%).
Perceptions of democracy also showed positive trends. Some 46.9% of respondents said democracy is functioning well, more than double the 21.8% who disagreed.
Meanwhile, more than half of respondents (55.2%) reported having used generative artificial intelligence, with an average of 3.3 uses per day. Regarding AI's social impact, concerns about "deepening job polarization and inequality" (64.3%) outweighed expectations for "shorter working hours or job sharing" (51.8%).
Experts said the findings suggest that while subjective assessments of economic standing have improved, life satisfaction and a sense of security about the future have weakened. "The structural fatigue facing a post-growth society is now showing up in the numbers," analysts said.
