Who Has Time to Care in Korea?

A city’s day is not made only of commutes and opening hours. Someone collects a child, prepares dinner, or reorganizes a week around a relative’s medical visit. The absence of a wage does not make these hours disappear.

Who spends more time on unpaid work in Korea?

Women do, on average. Korea’s 2026 SDG progress report cites the 2024 national time-use survey: women aged 10 and over spent 11.5% of their day on household management and family care, compared with 4.0% for men. That is roughly 166 and 58 minutes of a 24-hour day. These are population averages, not the schedule of any one person.

Does a narrowing gap mean equal responsibility?

No. The report records 14.1% for women and 2.0% for men in 1999, against 11.5% and 4.0% in 2024. Change is real, but among dual-income couples in 2024 the respective shares were still 11.9% for wives and 4.1% for husbands. Household type matters; a national average can conceal who is on call at home.

The hours in a day are equal; discretionary hours are not. Discussions of work, housing and city services need to account for the time that keeps a household running.

What belongs inside the time-use measure?

The 2026 SDG progress report uses the national time-use survey’s categories for household management and family care. In 2024, 11.5% of a 24-hour day is about 166 minutes; 4.0% is about 58 minutes. The difference is about 108 minutes per day in the population averages. This is not a statement that every woman does that much work or every man does that little. Age, employment, household composition and the presence of children or relatives needing support change the pattern.

The report’s 1999 comparison matters for the direction of change: women’s share fell from 14.1% while men’s rose from 2.0%. But a smaller gap is not the same as an equal division. The separate dual-income-couple figures in 2024—11.9% for wives and 4.1% for husbands—show that paid employment by both partners does not, by itself, equalise the reported household and care time.

What a diary records, and what it may not settle

Recorded time	Further question
Cooking, cleaning or a care task	Who noticed the need and arranged it?
Minutes spent on the task	Who remained available if plans changed?
National average by gender	How does the pattern differ by household type?

Why is this a city-planning issue, not only a private one?

Opening hours for childcare, clinics, schools and public transport can determine how much of a day is spent coordinating care. A short appointment can consume much longer if the trip and waiting have to fit around work. That is an analytical implication of the time-use gap, not a claim that this report measured any particular Seoul service. To test it locally, one would need schedules, travel times and accounts from carers with different family structures.

The figures also should not be read as a simple instruction to individual families. Paid leave, affordable services, accessible routes and workplace flexibility all affect the options a household has. The key editorial question is who has to absorb the unexpected hour when a child is sick or an older relative needs help—and whether public systems make that hour easier to share.