South Korea
THE BIG ISSUE KOREA
The South Korea Homeless Team is managed by the street paper Big Issue Korea, a social enterprise that is part of international street paper network The Big Issue. One of the enterprise’s permanent activities is street football, titled The Homeless Healthy Football League.
Its impact is two-fold. It encourages homeless people to regularly exercise and therefore lead a healthy lifestyle. It also raises awareness about homelessness and shows people in South Korea that homeless people can play football, and consequently work and live just like any ordinary person.
Country statistics
19 out of 189 in Human Development Index rankings (UNDP, 2019)
Average annual salary per person $35,490 (World Bank, 2023)
40% of people over 65 live in relative poverty (Statistica, 2022)
South Korea, also known as Korea and Korea Republic, has a population of 51.6 million. Located along the Korea Strait, it also includes 3,000 small islands. 70% of the country is mountainous, and most of the population is densely populated in the lowland areas (CIA Factbook, 2025; (Worldometer, 2024).
Poverty disproportionately impacts people over 65 in Korea, with 40% living in relative poverty. This is predicted to rise as the country has a growing aging population (Statistica, 2022).
The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), in its observations of South Korea in 2017 expressed concern over the absence of a strategy addressing the root causes of homelessness and called for a long-term plan to resolve the issue. (Cities Ending Homelessness Report, 2024).
However, the efforts of the South Korean government to ensure the ‘right to housing’ remains insufficient. In the 2020 Housing Welfare Roadmap 2.0, the Korean government announced plans to expand the supply of public rental housing for households living in inadequate housing. However, a long-term strategy is still lacking, and the budget allocated for these initiatives has been significantly reduced (OECD, Cities Ending Homelessness Report, 2024).
Homelessness in South Korea is highly stigmatised with blame often placed on an individual. The state support can also be exclusionary, with people unable to access benefits and the rental market. Campaigners say accessible and affordable housing for people experiencing homelessness is essential. They also say that tightening regulations around quality of properties is also vital. An example of this is people who live in ‘gosiwons’ (small, single-room apartments) which do not meet basic living standards (Cities Ending Homelessness Report, 2024).
Researchers in 2024 found that suicide attempts and suicidal ideation were significantly higher amongst young people who were living in gosiwons because of the stigma and inadequate living conditions (PubMed, 2024). There have also been multiple cases of fires and flooding which have led to the deaths of people living in gosiwons (Cities Ending Homelessness Report, 2024).
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The 2024 Seoul Homeless World Cup took place in September 2024, this was the first time the tournament had been held in Asia.
In the Cities Ending Homeless Report 2024, the article ‘Korea: Homes for All – Housing Rights, Social Change, Safety and Community’ outlined seven objectives to tackle ongoing housing shortages and issues in the country.
STORIES from the region
