Full-time child doing household chores

Photo: Kukmin Ilbo (kmib.co.kr) 

In the past, becoming an adult and leaving home to start an independent life was seen as a natural part of adulthood. Today, however, slow economic growth, a difficult job market, and high housing costs are keeping more people in their parents’ homes longer. According to the 2024 Survey on Youth Life, released by the Office for Government Policy Coordination in 2025, 54.4% of young people aged 19 to 34 lived with their parents. A new term, “Full-time child,” has appeared to describe young adults who live with their parents and share housework and care work. As this trend grows, ideas about independence and adulthood are also changing.

Living With Parents Becomes More Common 

Recent data shows how widespread the pattern has become. According to data from the National Health Insurance Service, 942,718 adult children aged 26 to 50 were registered as dependents on their parents’ health insurance as of the end of 2025. Of them, 212,240 had been registered for more than five years. Being on a parent's insurance does not always mean full financial dependence, but the scale of the numbers suggest that financial ties between adult children and parents continue well into adulthood. The pattern becomes more noticeable when compared with other countries. According to the OECD, 81% of Koreans aged 20 to 29 lived with their parents in 2020 compared with the OECD average of about 50%.

This can also be seen in the daily lives of college students. Lee Hyun-ji, a student at Kangnam University, said, “Among seven or eight of my friends, only one or two live alone or in a dormitory. Most of them live with their parents.” Lee said she does not yet feel financially or practically ready to live on her own. “I do not feel ready to take care of my whole life and daily needs on my own yet,” she said. Adding that she plans to move out when she has enough money to support herself.

Why Moving Out Is Harder 

Several factors are behind the large number of young adults living with their parents. These include difficulties in finding jobs, high housing costs, and changes in family life.

The tough job market is one major factor. According to the Ministry of Data and Statistics, the unemployment rate for people aged 15 to 29 was 6.8% in February 2026. It was the highest unemployment level since September 2022, near the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Without steady income, moving out becomes difficult. Even after finding a job, housing costs remain a burden. In August 2025, Group By, a wage information platform, reported that the median annual salary for people aged 25 to 29 was 33.8 million won in 2025, or about 2.8 million won per month, based on data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics and the Ministry of Employment and Labor. On April 23, 2026, housing platform Dabang reported that the average monthly rent for Seoul studios was 710,000 won in March 2026, based on a 10 million won deposit and transaction data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The figure was 5.2% higher than in February 2026. These figures cover different groups and periods but show the employment and housing costs that can make independence difficult. 

Young people’s experiences also show these difficulties. Sim Ye-jin, a student at Chung-Ang University, said, “I want to move out when I have a steady income or feel that I need more emotional independence. Right now, I have neither, so I am putting it off.”

Rethinking the “Full-time Child”

As more young adults remain at home, some researchers are reconsidering how to describe them. Kim Joong-baek, a professor in the Dept. of Sociology at Kyung Hee University (KHU), said, “The cost of living independently can be high, and young people can clearly feel the difference between their current housing conditions and the housing they can afford after moving out. Housing costs have a strong influence.” He stressed the importance of housing policies that help young people start independent lives with greater stability.

Prof. Kim also pointed to changes in family life. He said, “As one-child families have become more common because of the low birth rate, it has become more practical for parents and children to live together. More parents also prefer their children to stay with them longer.”

As more young adults live with their parents, society’s view of them is also changing. Recent discussions have focused on young adults as family members who take on new roles at home. They may contribute through housework while living with their parents.

Jung Go-un, a professor in the Dept. of Sociology at Korea University, describes this change as the “breakdown of the standard life course.” She said, “The transition into adulthood used to follow a path of education, employment, marriage, and independence. Today, these stages are often delayed or happen in a different order. Living with parents is one result of this change.”

From this perspective, Full-time child differs from the older expression “Kangaroo child,” which often carries a negative image of dependence. Prof. Jung said, “The term Kangaroo child described young people as passive and dependent on their parents. The term Full-time child presents housework and care as work and family roles. It is closer to a concept through which young people create their own stories.”

Young adults’ living arrangements also take many forms. Jung said, “Young people often move between living independently and returning to their parents’ homes because of employment, job changes, unemployment, or moving to another city.” She also said that many are trying different forms of shared housing, including share-houses and communities formed with friends. Their living arrangements are no longer limited to forming a traditional family through marriage.

Park Jeong-hyeon, a student in the Dept. of Economics at KHU, currently lives alone, but said she would consider moving back in with her parents after finding a job if she could commute from home. “I don’t think there is anything wrong with living with my parents. Unless there is a reason I need to live independently, I don’t see why I should,” she said.

Jeon Young-soo, a professor at Hanyang University Graduate School of International Studies, presents this trend as a new family model shaped by slow economic growth in his 2026 book Full-time Child. The book discusses similar phenomena in other developed countries, including Japan’s “Parasite single” and the United States’ “Twixter,” and argues that the phenomenon is not temporary. It emphasizes the need to create conditions for young people to choose independence on their own terms.  

Independence as a Choice

Living with parents does not always mean failing to become independent. As “full-time child” becomes a common word in Korea, it shows a shift in how and when young people choose to grow up. Difficulties in finding jobs, high housing costs, and changes in family life are affecting when young people leave home and how they live.

As more young adults remain at home longer, the meaning of adulthood may be changing. The challenge now is to improve housing and employment conditions so that young people can choose when to live independently or continue living with their parents. What matters is that the choice belongs to them—not to their job prospects or their rent.