The number of single-person households in the country surpassed eight million for the first time last year.

According to data from Statistics Korea on Thursday, there were just over eight million people living alone in 2024, up 616-thousand from a year earlier.

The tally of single-person households topped five million in 2015 and rose beyond six million in 2019 before breaking the seven million mark in 2021.

Employed people living by themselves in 2024 accounted for 63-point-seven percent of the total at five-point-one million, representing an increase of 426-thousand from 2023.

Among families with underage children, the number of dual-income households decreased on-year by 22-thousand to some two-point-three million, accounting for 58-point-five percent of the total.