[News Today] REDUCED ISOLATED YOUTH FIGURES

[LEAD]
A recent survey reveals that about nine in every hundred youths in Gyeonggi-do Province are socially isolated or reclusive. This suggests that over 337,000 young adults face crisis situations. Controversy has erupted as Gyeonggi-do Province is accused of under reporting these figures in its initial survey.

[REPORT]
A survey shows nine out of 100 young people in Gyeonggi-do Province are socially isolated or reclusive.

As many as 5.9% of them live in social isolation, while another 3.3% are recluses. That amounts to up to 337,000 out of the province's population of young people of 3.67 million.

That's the largest population of socially withdrawn youths in the nation. Gyeonggi-do Province's ratio of socially secluded youth is also higher than the national average.

Most of the socially isolated young adults in the province were found to be in their late 30s, mostly men. Many of the recluses are those in their early 30s, mostly women.

Park Gyu-beom / Gyeonggi Welfare Foundation
We presume that many relatively older young adults are moving to Gyeonggi-do Province. Quite a high percentage of them live in isolation and seclusion.

But when announcing the results of the first survey into isolated and reclusive young adults living in the province, Gyeonggi-do downsized their figures to the results of a study.

The researchers analyzed separately the number of isolated and reclusive young people, whereas Gyeonggi-do Province included the number of reclusive people into the number of isolated ones and announced what appears to be a total number.

That's why the announced figure is up to 117,000 smaller than the research findings.

Likewise, the Seoul metropolitan government, which analyzed the number of isolated and reclusive youths separately, also announced the total number.

Official from Gyeonggi-do prov. gov't/ (VOICE MODIFIED)
If isolated, secluded people are classified separately, that's too many. Seoul City announced the figure of 4.5% in 2022. If we announce it as 9.2%, it wouldn't be right. That's too many.

With statistics about socially isolated and reclusive youths being distorted from the basic stage, concerns are rising that young people who are in need of help could be left behind.