Work tops stress for men; parents and children for women
A man holds his head while sitting at a desk with a laptop. (123rf)
Koreans in their 40s report that the highest levels of daily stress among adults, reflecting pressures from work and finances that intensify in midlife, government health data showed.
About 25.9 percent of adults aged 19 or older said they frequently experience high levels of stress, according to 2024 national health statistics released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The figure means roughly one in four adults say they face significant stress in everyday life.
The survey measures the share of people who say they feel “very much” or “a lot” of stress during routine activities.
Among age groups, people in their 40s recorded the highest rate at 35.1 percent, followed by those in their 30s at 34.7 percent and 30.3 percent among people in their 20s.
A decade earlier, the pattern looked different. In 2014, people in their 30s reported the highest stress level at 34.0 percent, while those in their 20s followed at 28.9 percent. At the time, people in their 40s reported a lower level of stress at 26.9 percent, suggesting pressure has grown more intense for middle-aged Koreans over the past decade.
Women reported higher stress overall than men. 28.6 percent of women said they feel high stress, compared with 23.3 percent of men.
When both age and gender are considered, men in their 40s reported the highest stress among men at 36.3 percent, while women in their 30s recorded the highest level overall at 41.5 percent.
Work and financial concerns were the two most common sources of stress. Job-related pressures accounted for 25.7 percent of responses, followed closely by economic problems at 25.0 percent.
For men in their 40s, workplace pressure stood out as the main factor. 46.6 percent cited work as their biggest source of stress, well ahead of financial issues at 36.0 percent.
Among women, the pattern shifted with age. Women in their 30s most often pointed to work-related stress at 28.2 percent, while women in their 40s most frequently cited issues involving parents or children at 27.6 percent, exceeding both work and financial concerns.
Family-related stress remained a recurring theme among women. From their 30s through age 70 or older, more than 13 percent to 27 percent of women identified concerns involving parents or children as a major source of stress.
For men, by contrast, family issues accounted for less than 10 percent of responses across all age groups, according to the survey.
hnpark@heraldcorp.com