Men's Housework Production Surges 35% Over 5 Years, but Women Still Shoulder 73%

Over the past five years, the scale of men's unpaid housework production has surged by more than 35 percent.

However, women still account for over 73 percent of all housework, indicating that the gender gap remains wide.

Women's burden of household chores, such as cleaning and childcare, continued until the elderly age of 84, and in the age group that does the most housework, women were found to bear a burden 7.7 times greater than that of men.

The Ministry of Data and Statistics announced these findings today (June 23) in its "2024 National Time Transfer Accounts (NTTA)" report.

The NTTA is a statistic that measures the production, consumption, and transfer flows of unpaid housework, which is not included in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), by age and gender.

It allows for tracking the distribution of deficits and surpluses across an individual's life cycle, which arise from the difference between the consumption and production of housework, as well as the flow of intergenerational redistribution of resources to cover these differences.

This statistic was officially approved and announced as a national statistic for the first time this year, reflecting the United Nations (UN) guidelines distributed in 2025.

As of 2024, the total value of housework produced by men was 156.6 trillion won, a 35.3 percent increase from 2019 (115.7 trillion won).

During the same period, the total value of housework produced by women rose by only 15.2 percent, from 369.7 trillion won to 425.8 trillion won.

In terms of growth rate alone, men's rate was more than double that of women.

However, in terms of the total volume of housework, the burden on women remained overwhelmingly larger.

Of the total housework production value of 582.4 trillion won in 2024, the share produced by women stood at 73.1 percent.

Although this is a 3.0 percentage point drop compared to 2019 (76.2 percent), it still means women are taking on about three-quarters of all housework.

Looking at the trends in production by detailed categories, men's production in the "household management" sector, which includes cleaning and food preparation, increased by 43.6 percent compared to five years ago.

Production in "caring for family and household members" also increased by 13.9 percent.

For women, "household management" production increased by 20.6 percent, but "caring for family and household members" production decreased by 4.0 percent.

An analysis of the life-cycle deficit—the difference between the consumption and production of housework—by age group showed that the duration and amount of housework women shoulder throughout their lives are vastly greater than those of men.

If consumption of housework is greater than production, it is a "deficit," and if production is greater than consumption, it is a "surplus."

Those in surplus can be seen as the "housework providers" within the household, doing chores on behalf of others.

Men recorded a surplus starting at age 32 and returned to a deficit at age 44, whereas women entered a surplus at age 26 and did not transition to a deficit until age 84.

The surplus period for men was 12 years, but for women, it was 58 years—about 4.8 times longer than that of men.

However, compared to five years ago, the gap narrowed slightly as men's surplus period increased by four years (from 8 to 12 years) and women's decreased by three years (from 61 to 58 years).

Based on the peak of the surplus, men's maximum surplus was 2.5 million won at age 38, while women's was 19.19 million won at age 39.

This means that even when comparing the periods of the heaviest household burden, women do about 7.7 times more housework than men.

The statistics also revealed changes in housework patterns driven by social trends, such as population aging, late marriage, and delayed childbirth.

In particular, the total housework production value of the elderly aged 65 and older surged by 55.1 percent in five years.

This is largely due to the growing elderly population itself as the society ages.

Looking at the details, the "household management" sector for the elderly increased by 55.9 percent.

The Ministry of Data and Statistics explained that as the elderly age, the proportion of single-person households and single-generation households consisting of only elderly couples rises above 70 percent, leading to a high demand for housework, such as meal preparation and cleaning, to maintain their own household lives.

The "caring for family and household members" sector increased by 34.3 percent, heavily influenced by a 53.9 percent surge in "adult care," which takes the form of elderly-to-elderly care where elderly couples look after each other.

The production of "minor care," which involves caring for grandchildren, also increased by 21.2 percent.

The increase in late-life childcare among the elderly is interpreted as a phenomenon linked to late marriage and delayed childbirth among their children's generation.

As both marriage and childbirth are delayed, the peak age for individual housework production was pushed back from 37 in 2019 to 40 in 2024.

The age group with a surplus in major housework, including childcare, also shifted from 25 to 44 in 2019 to 35 to 54 in 2024.

This also affected the care of grandchildren living separately.

In 2019, the net outflow of minor care in inter-household transfers was largest in the 55 to 64 age group, but in 2024, it was largest among those aged 65 and older.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.