Busan to survey 2,200 households on welfare needs and living conditions

Busan will conduct its 2026 welfare survey to assess the living conditions and policy needs of its residents.

The city announced Monday it will carry out the survey through Aug. 14, gathering and analyzing residents' views on their living conditions, welfare needs and use of social services to inform policy planning and implementation.

Conducted every two years under approval from the Ministry of Statistics, the survey will cover 2,200 households in Busan across 124 items in eight categories. These include general household composition; employment and jobs, covering work status, job characteristics and social insurance; health and medical care, covering health conditions and use of medical facilities; housing, including length of residence, housing type, home financing and rental housing; household finances, covering expenditures, debt, assets, income, welfare benefits and retirement preparation; family and caregiving, covering care services, child and adult care, and single-person households; community and quality of life, covering community participation and leisure activities; and welfare awareness and policy, covering policy direction and residents' awareness and satisfaction levels.

This year's survey adds policy questions on benefit fraud, Busan's integrated care services, energy support for vulnerable groups, charitable giving, identification of households in crisis, and abuse reporting and prevention. Trained surveyors will visit each selected household in person and conduct face-to-face interviews using tablets and printed questionnaires; all responses will be kept strictly confidential under the Statistics Act. Results are scheduled for release in January next year.

Hwang Sun-gil, the city's director of social welfare, urged residents to participate actively in the survey, saying the city would "pursue policies together with citizens through the continuous accumulation and use of data."