A shopper buys groceries at a convenience store in this undated photo. Yonhap

More than half of all single-person households in Korea hold an additional job to cope with the rising cost of living, according to a report, Sunday.

The report released by KB Financial Group's think tank showed that 54.8 percent of 2,000 single-person households surveyed said they took on an extra job, citing reasons such as insufficient income for daily expenses and the need to save for emergencies.

The findings were based on an online survey of 2,000 single-person households aged 25 to 59, residing in the capital, the greater Seoul area, or other metropolitan cities across the country.

In contrast, a 2022 survey revealed that 42 percent of all single-person households in Korea held an additional job to deal with the increasing cost of living.

“The outcome shows an increasing number of Koreans living by themselves are burdened by high prices and high interest rates,” the think tank analyzed.

Among the 2,000 survey respondents this year, 38.8 percent said they took on an additional job to save money for emergencies.

Another 18.7 percent said they took on an additional job because they have time to spare, while 13.2 percent said it was due to insufficient income to cover living expenses.

The survey also revealed that single-person households have an average of 12.9 meals per week, or 1.8 meals per day, a decrease from 2020 when the average was 15.5 meals per week, or 2.2 meals per day.

Meanwhile, 71.2 percent of this year's survey respondents expressed satisfaction with being part of a single-person household, an increase from 68.2 percent in 2022.

By age and gender, women in their 20s and 30s reported the highest satisfaction with living alone, with 83.5 percent expressing contentment. This was higher than the 72.6 percent satisfaction rate among women in their 40s and 50s and the 70.2 percent among men in their 20s and 30s.