Ministry of Statistics to release integrated housing ownership and debt data this year

South Korea's Ministry of Statistics plans to enact a National Data Framework Act by year's end to manage data scattered across public and private sectors as a core national asset. The move aims to establish a system for linking and utilizing data — a key resource in the AI era — and to build a coherent national data governance framework.

The ministry presented its major achievements and progress in national data and statistics to the Cabinet on Monday, marking the first anniversary of the People's Sovereignty Government.

The ministry said it had pursued four major initiatives over the past year: establishing pan-government data governance, enhancing data value, developing national statistics, and strengthening statistical services and infrastructure.

The draft National Data Framework Act, submitted to the National Assembly on May 27, includes provisions for building a national data coordination system, designating and managing critical data, linking and utilizing data with quality controls, and designating national data use centers. The ministry is also operating a special subcommittee and a public-private consultative body to gather field input and expand cooperation between government and industry.

Minister Ahn Hyung-jun said at a briefing on Friday that since the ministry's launch in November last year, it had worked to lay the groundwork for coordinating, linking and utilizing data as a core AI-era resource, on top of its existing statistics-focused mandate.

"Public data governance had been fragmented across multiple ministries, which limited our ability to manage data as an asset and put it to use," he said. "We will designate national data and create special provisions for its use so that the public can see tangible results from data utilization."

The ministry is also developing AI-friendly metadata, known as ontologies, and introducing advanced data protection technologies such as homomorphic encryption. Following the launch of the small and medium-sized enterprises statistics database in November last year, it plans to build and release integrated datasets on elderly people, deceased individuals and homeowners by year's end for use in policy development.

The integrated elderly dataset will combine housing, employment, pension and welfare information to support policy for older adults. The deceased dataset will link cause of death with household composition, child-rearing and employment data to serve as a foundation for policies addressing suicide and solitary death. The homeowner dataset will combine housing ownership status, publicly assessed prices and debt information to improve the utility of residential and financial policy.

In national statistics development, the ministry newly developed and published regional supply-and-use tables and expanded the number of areas covered by its "living population" statistics from 89 to 107.

The ministry developed a demographic panel statistics series to analyze changes in marriage and birth rates by economic and social characteristics, and also released a range of youth indicators to provide a multidimensional picture of young people's quality of life, along with indicators on social isolation and reclusion. It plans to further expand data linkages to enable a comprehensive understanding of social inequality.

In the second half of this year, the ministry will publish results from the Population and Housing Census, the Census of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the Economic Census. It will also release a revised consumer price index and updated population projections. The consumer price index overhaul will adjust the items tracked and their weightings to reflect shifts in consumption patterns and the emergence of new spending categories.

The ministry is also working to strengthen national statistical services and infrastructure. To improve public access to data, it has expanded data visualization services and an industry statistics map. Starting this month, it will use AI technology to extend the operating hours of its statistical data center to nights and weekends.

The ministry is also developing and refining industry-specific classification systems in cooperation with related ministries to support the growth of new industries. It has established a partnership with Korea Post so that mail carriers can assist with on-site survey work, as part of broader efforts to expand the statistical survey infrastructure.

"Data is the source of national competitiveness and a core national asset in the AI era," Ahn said. "We will push data innovation forward with greater urgency and actively support the resolution of national challenges through the linking and utilization of diverse data."