South Koreans have low trust of society: report

SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Koreans on average have low trust of society and think there is too wide of a gap between the haves and have-nots, a report by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) showed Sunday.

The latest findings based on a survey, carried out on 3,648 people over the age of 19 in July and August, revealed that South Koreans rated their level of social trust at 4.59 points, below the break-even 5 points. A number close to zero means people have little trust in society, while 10 translates into complete confidence.

The public institute said older people generally had more confidence in society, while people in their 30s showed the least trust.

People who were less educated tended to have more faith in society, although people who identified themselves as belonging to middle or upper middle classes generally expressed more social confidence than those at the bottom end of the ladder.

KIHASA's report showed South Koreans rated their living standard at 5.33 points, with younger and higher-educated people being more satisfied.

On the prickly issue of how people viewed the wealth divide in the country, the survey found a reading of 1.76.

A reading of 1 means people see the wealth disparity as considerable, while 5 translates into people not thinking the gap between the haves and have-nots was an issue.

"In this data, there was a close correlation between living standards and how a respondent viewed the wealth gap in the country," a KIHASA official said.

People who are discontent with their respective living standards tended to think wealth disparity was serious. These same people also had the lowest social trust, the survey indicated.

In contrast, those who are satisfied with their living conditions, and did not think the wealth divide was that great, tended to have more confidence in society, KIHASA said.

yonngong@yna.co.kr
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