The number of single-person households continued to rise in South Korea last year.

According to data compiled by Statistics Korea, households consisting of a single member totaled 5.62 million in 2017, compared with 5.39 million the previous year. This accounted for 28.6 percent of all households in the country, up 0.7 percentage point from a year earlier.

The percentage of those living alone has been on a sharp rise for decades, hitting 20 percent in 2005 for the first time, compared to 4.8 percent in 1980.

Single-person households have become the most common household type in South Korea, making up 27.2 percent in 2015.