SEOUL, - One South Korean household owes more than 90 million won (US$68,260) on average to banks and other financial companies this year as people borrowed to buy homes and cover living expenses, data showed Thursday.

The average household debt was tallied at 91.86 million won as of end-March this year, up 0.2 percent from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea.

Of the total, 72.9 percent, or 66.94 million won, was loans taken out from financial institutions, down 1.3 percentage points on-year, with the rest in home rental deposits that must be paid back down the line.

Their ratio of debt to asset reached 17.4 percent in 2023, up 0.7 percentage point from a year earlier.

The Statistics Korea data also showed that an average South Korean household held 527.27 million won worth of assets as of end-March this year, down 3.7 percent from a year earlier.

The income of an average South Korean household rose 4.5 percent on-year to 67.62 million won, including 43.90 million won from earned income and 12.06 million won from business revenue.

The data showed that 17 percent of families were headed by retired householders, who quit their jobs at the age of 62.7, while 58.4 percent of them said they were short of money to earn a living.

Statistics Korea said it carried out a joint survey with the Bank of Korea and the Financial Supervisory Service on 20,000 households across the country from March 31 to April 17, 2023.

Source: Yonhap News Agency