The nation’s statistics agency predicts that four out of ten households will be single-person households by the year 2052.

According to a projection issued Thursday by Statistics Korea, the total number of households in the country, which stood at around 21-point-66 million in 2022, will peak at 24-point-37 million in 2041 before dropping to 23-point-28 million in 2052.

The agency expects to see nine-point-62 million single-person households in 2052, which would represent an increase of some 30 percent over 2022. 

Single-person households are expected to account for 41-point-three percent of all households in 2052, as compared to 34-point-one percent in 2022.

Four-person households, which made up 14-point-one percent of the total in 2022, are expected to account for only six-point-seven percent three decades later.

Amid the rapidly aging society, the agency says, families led by people over 65 will jump from 24-point-one percent of the total in 2022 to 50-point-six percent in 2052.