South Koreans are curing their loneliness by spoiling their pets

©Paul Bill (2024)

REPORT

11 Jul 2024

Young Koreans are coping with burnout, a poor job economy, and loneliness by adopting dogs and – increasingly – cats. They’re also spending lots of money on them, creating a growing pet service industry in South Korea. The trend highlights what they value – independence, relaxation, and alone time.

Sectors
PetsHome and RelationshipsShopping
Location
South Korea

Seong-kon Kim, PhD

Kim Seong-kon, PhD, is a professor emeritus at Seoul National University and a visiting scholar at Dartmouth College. He is an academic, literary critic, film critic, columnist, editor, and writer.

Hye-young Woo

Hye-young Woo, PhD, is a professor of sociology and the director of the Institute for Asian Studies at Portland State University. Her research centres on status attainment, such as education, work, and family, and its associations with health and wellbeing over the life course, concerning people in the United States as well as those in Korea.

Evan E. Lambert

Evan E. Lambert is a journalist, travel writer, essayist, and short fiction writer with bylines at Thought Catalog, Business Insider, Mic, People, Queerty, BuzzFeed, Going, The Discoverer, and many more. You can check out his other work at https://evanlambert.journoportfolio.com/.

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