Residence Consciousness of The Elderly Residing in Apartments

아파트 거주 고령자의 거주의식 특성

As of November 1st 2010, 59% of overall residences in Korea are apartments with 8,185,000 households and when including the multi-unit houses, 71.0% of the overall residences are multifamily houses. The apartments have become the most universal form of residence in Korea and its' relative weight will continuously increase in the future. Meanwhile, Korea has turned into aging society in 2000 and will turn into the super-aged society by 2026 to display the world's fastest speed for aging. Majority of the elderly will spend their declining years in apartments. To understand the residence consciousness and its' properties for unit housing of the elderly residing in apartments, the present study obtained the following results through surveying the 541 nationwide samples. First, the elderly most prefer the mid and high levels(6-9th floors, or 10-15th floors) of apartments. Second, the elderly couples most prefer areas of $85m^2$ while single elderly most prefer $60m^2$. Third, the elderly feel the most inconveniences in bathrooms and showers. Fourth, safety accidents in dwelling of the elderly have no significant correlation with age, gender or their possessed diseases. Fifth, the elderly displayed high satisfaction for their bedrooms. Sixth, there were less tendencies for elderly to feel lack of storage spaces or conduct remodeling. As a result of the analysis, all apartment houses of Korea must support the physical aging of residents and prevent safety accidents in houses to enable Korean aging in place.