Some Adults in South Korea Experience ‘Lunar New Year Stress’

The 2025 Lunar New Year holiday in South Korea is particularly long, starting today, January 25, and lasting for six days through Thursday, including the weekend. As the holiday stretches on, more people are reporting stress during this time. Issues like job-related nagging, pressure over gifts and money for New Year’s greetings, and other holiday stresses are affecting different generations in different ways.

According to a survey conducted by AlbaChungook, a major part-time job platform in South Korea, with 1,502 adults, 39.8% of respondents said they experience stress during the Lunar New Year holiday. This is a slight increase compared to the same survey last year, which showed 35.6%. The responses indicating stress were higher among women (44.7%) than men (33.8%), and by age group, the highest percentage of stress was among those in their 30s, at 48.6%.

For those in their 20s, the most significant stressor was “excessive questions and nagging about employment and career” (68.5%—multiple answers allowed), while for those in their 30s, it was “excessive questions and nagging about relationships and marriage” (49.4%). For people in their 40s and older, stress was most often caused by the “financial burden of holiday expenses, such as gifts, New Year’s money, and allowance” (53.2% for those in their 40s, 56.7% for those aged 50 and above). As for the appropriate amount of New Year’s money, most people agreed that it should be around “50,000 to 100,000 won.”

Do you experience holiday stress as well? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!

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