Young Koreans without a four-year degree are less connected, study finds

Young Koreans without a four-year university degree are far less connected to other people than those who have one, a National Assembly think tank has found.

The report, by the National Assembly Futures Institute, challenges a popular notion that the so-called MZ generation, a Korean term covering millennials and Gen Z, eats alone and keeps to itself by choice. How connected young people are depends heavily on their education and where they grew up, the researchers found, not simply on personal preference.

"I mostly get by on delivery food at home or a boxed lunch from the convenience store nearby, and when I cannot be bothered, I skip the meal altogether," said a 33-year-old freelancer surnamed Jung who lives alone in Gwanak District, southern Seoul. "I have lived like this for so long that I do not even feel that lonely."

Jung moved to Seoul and started working right after finishing high school outside the greater Seoul area, lost touch with most school friends and had few chances to make new ones. Without a steady workplace, Jung has almost no close colleagues either.

Jung fits the profile the report examines: a young person who did not go to college and grew up outside the capital region. The institute's report, published in July, draws on a nationwide survey of 5,185 people aged 19 to 39 conducted in November and December 2025. The researchers divided social connection into seven areas, including friendships, participation in civic groups, leisure and cultural activities and political participation, and compared young people by gender, education, class and region.

Education drew the sharpest line. What mattered was whether young people had graduated from a four-year university, not which one. Among four-year graduates, the researchers found no statistically significant difference between those from top-tier schools and the rest. The gap between four-year graduates and those who stopped at a junior college or high school was, however, stark.

Compared to graduates of four-year universities outside the greater Seoul area, young people who did not go to college were 4.3 percentage points more likely to eat alone on weekdays and 5.2 percentage points less likely to eat with someone outside their family. They were also 6.3 percentage points more likely to barely use social media.

Young people who did not go to college fell even further behind in politics. They were 7 percentage points less likely than the same group of graduates to talk about social and political issues, 4 percentage points less likely to have joined a protest or rally and 8 percentage points less likely to vote.

The two groups had a similar share of people who said they were highly interested in politics. Actual participation was where they split.

"This suggests that the low political participation of young people who did not go to college is rooted in unequal opportunity," the researchers wrote.

Young people from outside Seoul also lagged in social connection. Those who finished high school in one of the metropolitan cities outside Seoul were 4.4 percentage points more likely to eat alone than those who finished high school in Seoul, and 10 percentage points less likely to eat with people outside their family.

Those who finished high school in smaller cities or rural areas were 10.5 percentage points more likely than those from Seoul to have never been in a romantic relationship.

"I once thought about living in my hometown for the rest of my life, but there were so few people in their 20s and 30s around that even dating was hard," said a 29-year-old surnamed Lee who moved to Seoul in their mid-20s. "There were no jobs in the field I wanted either, so I had no choice but to move to Seoul."

On the other hand, for an office worker surnamed Park who has always lived in Seoul, company has never been hard to find.

"Meeting friends or colleagues for a good meal whenever I want is just part of daily life," Park said. "All my friends were dating by their early 20s, so I hardly remember ever meeting anyone who had never been in a relationship."

The researchers say this inequality in connections among young people is hard to fix with economic support such as job assistance or childbirth subsidies alone. Beyond supplementing income, they call for more opportunities and infrastructure for young people to build relationships and take part in their communities.

Their proposals include more local performance and exhibition spaces, sports facilities and small-group gatherings. They also call for lowering the cost and information barriers that keep junior college and high school graduates out of hobby groups and similar activities.

"Investment in regional infrastructure needs to be positioned not as a matter of cultural policy but as a core agenda item in responding to low birthrates and regional depopulation," the researchers wrote.

Kim Yu-hyeon, an adjunct professor of economics at Hanyang University, sees the same divide. Kim is the author of "The South Gyeongsang Youth Exodus" (translated), a book on young people leaving South Gyeongsang.

"As jobs and opportunities concentrate in the greater Seoul area, it is an undeniable reality that a sense of defeat is spreading among the young people who remain in the regions," Kim said. "Youth isolation should not be viewed simply as a matter of culture or welfare. It needs to be addressed as a matter of balanced regional development."

BY NAM SOO-HYOUN [[email protected]]