Half of South Korean high schoolers get less than 6 hours of sleep a day

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About half of all high school students in Korea sleep less than six hours a day due to demanding study schedules. Academic pressure was also identified as a primary reason why students feel unhappy or contemplate suicide.

According to a report released Wednesday by the National Youth Policy Institute, 46.7 percent of the 2,258 high school students surveyed in 2024 said they slept less than six hours a day. Another 30.8 percent reported sleeping six to seven hours, while 17 percent said they slept fewer than five hours. Only 5.5 percent said they slept eight hours or more each night. The average sleep duration was six hours — far below the eight to 10 hours recommended for adolescents by recent research.

"Studying" was identified as the main cause of sleep deprivation. Studying at home, including watching online lectures and doing homework, was cited by 25.5 percent of students as the reason for their lack of sleep, followed by attendance at private academies and tutoring (19.3 percent) and late-night study sessions at school (13.4 percent).

A chart from a report published by the National Youth Policy Institute, translated using artificial intelligence, shows the average sleep duration of elementary, middle and high school students in Korea.

Studying also took a heavy toll on the mental health and happiness of teenagers. Among students at general high schools, 30.5 percent said they had experienced suicidal thoughts or ideation. Of those, 46.4 percent cited grades and academic pressure as the reason, while anxiety about their future career path was mentioned by 25.2 percent.

Students at vocational high schools, who often face less pressure over academics, had a lower rate of suicidal ideation at 23.3 percent — 6.2 percentage points lower than their general high school peers. The percentage of vocational students who cited academic pressure as the reason for contemplating suicide was 23.6 percent, 22.8 percentage points lower than that of students at general high schools.

Among general high school students, nearly one in five (19.5 percent) said they were "not happy." Academic stress played a major role in this sentiment as well. More than half of the respondents (54.9 percent) pointed to grades and studying as the biggest cause of their unhappiness, while 24 percent cited anxiety about their future.

The survey also revealed that 38.7 percent of general high school students had considered dropping out of school. The most common reason given was "feel too tired or unmotivated." (25.1 percent), followed by "don't feel like studying" (22.6 percent) and "because of poor grades" (21.6 percent).

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.