More than four out of 10 Korean children and adolescents want to play with friends after school, but over half spend their time at private academies or tutoring sessions instead, according to a new report. Academic performance ranked as their top concern, while worries about appearance overtook career-related concerns to secure the second spot.
According to the "2025 Key Statistics on Children" released by the National Center for the Rights of the Child on Tuesday, the gap between desired and actual after-school activities was most pronounced in private tutoring. Only 25.2% of children aged 9 to 17 said they wanted to attend private academies or receive tutoring, but 54.0% actually did so — a gap of 28.8 percentage points.
While 42.9% of children said they wanted to play with friends at playgrounds or internet cafes, only 18.6% reported actually doing so after school. The gap stood at 24.3 percentage points.
The same pattern held for doing homework at home. The actual rate (35.2%) was about 17 percentage points higher than the desired rate (18.4%), showing that children spend time on academic activities even when they don't want to. The survey found these gaps have widened compared with 2018.
The private education market continues to expand each year. According to the 2024 Survey on Private Education Expenditures for Elementary, Middle, and High School Students released by Statistics Korea and the Ministry of Education, total private education spending reached 29.2 trillion won ($20.1 billion), up 7.7% from the previous year, while the private education participation rate hit a record high of 80.0%. Even with a declining student population, the total amount has set new highs for four consecutive years.
Monthly private education spending per student averaged 474,000 won, up 9.3% year-on-year, and reached 592,000 won when limited to students actually participating in private education. The numbers lay bare a structure in which children find it difficult to secure meaningful play time.
Children themselves feel burdened by this reality. In the "2025 Survey on Awareness of Children's Rights," conducted earlier this year by the National Center for the Rights of the Child on 1,992 people — including 1,177 children and 815 adults — four out of 10 children said they did not have enough time to play. Children cited "providing time to play" as the most needed measure to guarantee their right to play. Adults, by contrast, prioritized "improving awareness of the importance of the right to play" (32.5%), revealing a gap in perception.
The nature of adolescents' concerns has also changed. Based on combined social surveys from 2020, 2022, and 2024, studies (grades and aptitude) ranked first in all three surveys. In 2020, studies (74.6%) were followed by career (42.9%), appearance (38.6%), and friends (27.0%). But in 2024, appearance (42.2%) rose to second place after studies (76.1%), while career (36.7%) dropped to third.
Appearance has held the second-place spot since 2022. Experts point to the spread of short-form content and social media as one cause of deepening appearance-related concerns. As of 2024, 42.6% of teenagers were classified as being at risk of smartphone overdependence, up 2.5 percentage points from 40.1% in 2023.
Research has also shown that exposure to short-form content can lead to obsession with appearance and thinness, particularly among adolescents with relatively weak media literacy skills.
The statistics compile key indicators related to Korean children based on sources including the Comprehensive Survey on Children's Conditions and social surveys. Children's overall life satisfaction stood at 7.14 out of 10, gradually improving from 6.10 in 2013 and 6.57 in 2018. However, negative indicators were also identified, including rising obesity rates, the presence of high-risk groups for mental health issues, and the failure to guarantee the right to play.
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