Income, Debt, Housing, Job
At 28, Kwon Joonyeop is the kind of guy most Korean teenagers want to become.
Kwon, 28, swam for his varsity team at Yonsei University, one of South Korea's top colleges. Kwon Joon-yeop
Kwon graduated in 2022 from Yonsei University, a top college where he swam on the varsity team and earned a double degree in physical education and public administration. He lives in Gangnam — Seoul's glitzy city center — in a four-room apartment that his family has owned for generations.
He works as a data analyst at a multinational tech firm, in a country where stable, white-collar jobs are glorified as the key to a good life. On weekends, he wins swimming competitions and is set to represent Seoul in under-30 tournaments.
But like most young and unmarried South Koreans, he lives with his parents, and despite earning more than the national average, he won't even consider buying his own home for the next 10 years. If he saves enough, maybe he can afford a car by then, he said.
"It feels a bit hopeless, like we are the damned ones," Kwon said.
Hong Seo-yoon, 36, manages a nonprofit for disabled rights in Korea and runs advocacy classes at Seoul National University in her spare time for around $3,700 a month. She's worked as an anchor at the Korean Broadcasting System and as the founder of multiple NGOs. Hong, who uses a wheelchair, also sits on the board of several Korean nonprofits for disability access.
She spent her life savings and took out a hefty loan to buy her first home in Seoul — a 600-square-foot apartment built 30 years ago — for $300,000 in 2019. Now, though, with her current salary and mortgage interest piling up, Hong told Insider she's worried about her financial future.
Kwon and Hong belong to Generation MZ, a collective term for South Korea's millennials and Gen Zers, who often get grouped together for their digital fluency and outlook on life.
Generation MZ — anyone born between 1980 and 2005 — accounts for almost a third of the country's population of around 52 million people.
It makes up Korea's most educated generation and is the country's first youth generation known for speaking up about social issues and the climate.
Generation MZ is also characterized by intense financial anxiety, as young Koreans like Hong and Kwon see their life goals drifting further away while housing, transportation, and education prices reach record highs.
Insider spoke with five South Koreans of Generation MZ, as well as finance and generational experts, to gain a better understanding of the generation.
Source: Business Insider
