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“A large proportion of people in their twenties in South Korea invest in stocks.”
The conclusion
Available surveys support the conclusion that stock investing is common among South Koreans in their twenties, with several estimates around 40% or higher. The strongest directly relevant population-wide figure is dated, however, and newer studies sometimes measure broader age groups, selected samples, or past investment experience rather than current stock ownership.
Caveats
- Low confidence conclusion.
- The strongest directly relevant nationwide estimate dates to 2020, so it may not represent the exact current rate.
- Some supporting surveys cover people beyond their twenties or measure investment experience rather than current ownership.
- Figures showing twenty-somethings as a share of all investors use the wrong denominator for assessing this claim.
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Sources
Sources used in the analysis
A survey showed that 4 out of 10 South Koreans in their 20s invest in stocks. In 2019, the percentage of respondents in their 20s who said they invested in stocks was the lowest compared to other age groups at 23.9%, but last year it rose to the highest at 39.2%.
Stock investors in their 20s only increased by 1.3% from 313,000 to 317,000... Those in their 40s accounted for the largest share at 27.6%, followed by those in their 30s (18.8%), 20s (5.7%), and under 20 (1.7%).
At the same time, investing in financial assets, such as stocks and funds, also gained widespread popularity among the youth. … However, as illustrated in Figure 3, the share of young households holding stocks, bonds, and funds has nearly doubled since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The proportion of all individual investors investing only in the domestic market is 89.4%, meaning that the vast majority of investors still remained in the domestic market during the analysis period (see <Table II-3>). Only the remaining average of about 10% participate in overseas asset markets, and among them, a significant number concurrently invest in both domestic and overseas markets, while some are pure overseas market investors who invest only in overseas assets.
It was surveyed that 1 in 2 young adults aged 20 to 34 has experience investing in stocks. According to a survey on 'Youth Perceptions of Money and Investment' conducted by the Kyunghyang Shinmun jointly with the polling agency 'PMI' from the 19th to the 21st of last month targeting 1,000 men and women aged 20 to 34 nationwide, 49.1% answered that they have experience investing in stocks at least once.
Data showed that stock investors are aging. Investors aged 50 and older marked 46.3 percent, those in their 40s (27.6 percent), 30s (18.8 percent) and 20s (5.7 percent).
The National Assembly Futures Institute published on the 21st a report titled ‘Types of Financial Asset Ownership and Social Perceptions of Youth’, which contains interview surveys of people in their 20s and 30s. … Among youth earning under 2 million won per month, the stock/fund ownership rate remained around 20%, but it exceeded 40% in the 2 million to 4 million won bracket and neared 60% in the 4 million to 6 million won bracket.
According to the 'December 2024 Settlement Listed Corporation Stock Ownership Status' data released by the Korea Securities Depository on the 19th, the number of owners holding shares of domestic listed companies at the end of 2023 was 1.54 million in their 20s and 2.72 million in their 30s. However, at the end of 2024, the number of people in their 20s decreased to 1.37 million and those in their 30s to 2.65 million, showing that a total of 240,000 people left the domestic stock market.
The proportion of investors in their 20s and 30s in the domestic market has steadily declined — from 14.9 percent and 20.9 percent in 2021, respectively, to 11 percent and 19.4 percent in 2023, according to data from the Korea Securities Depository. … For those in their 20s, the decline was from 2.2 percent to 1.6 percent over the same period.
As a result of analyzing the annual settlement data of the Korea Securities Depository, the proportion of investors in their 20s and 30s in the domestic stock market, which were 14.9% and 20.9% respectively in 2021, decreased to 12.7% and 19.9% in 2022, and 11% and 19.4% in 2023. Last year, they recorded record lows of 9.8% and 18.8%, respectively.
Meanwhile, data from the Korea Securities Depository showed that as of the end of last year, retail investors in their 20s numbered about 790,000, accounting for just 8.8 percent of all individual investors, while those in their 30s totaled about 2.6 million, or 19.1 percent.
In the survey, 452 respondents said they are currently investing in other financial products besides cash and deposits and installment savings, accounting for 76.2% of the total. … Of the 452 people who are investing in financial products other than cash equivalents, 356 (78.8%) said they are not currently investing in Korean stocks or will reduce the proportion of investments in the future.
The number of investors in their 20s increased by about 690,000 from 381,910 in 2019 to 1,071,086 last year.
According to an analysis of the Korea Securities Depository's annual settlement data, the proportion of investors in their 20s and 30s in the domestic stock market, which stood at 14.9% and 20.9% respectively in 2021, decreased to 12.7% and 19.9% in 2022, and further to 11% and 19.4% in 2023. Last year, they recorded all-time lows of 9.8% and 18.8%, respectively.
Meanwhile, preference for domestic and overseas stocks surged from 31.2% to 65.3%, more than doubling.
In the survey, 452 respondents said they are currently investing in other financial products besides cash and deposits and installment savings, accounting for 76.2% of the total.
In 2024, individuals in their 20s (including those under 20) represented 15.3% of the total, amounting to 2,153,255 people. This dropped to 14.1% or 203,7954 in 2025.
The spread of investment success stories is rooted in young Koreans' investment fever. … According to the
In contrast, the preference for domestic and overseas stocks surged from 31.2% to 65.3%.
On the other hand, preference for domestic and foreign stocks was found to have surged from 31.2% to 65.3%.
It was compiled that domestic stock investors were distributed mainly in their 50s. Those in their 50s recorded the largest number of shareholders with 3.33 million (23.1%). They were followed by those in their 40s (21.8%), 30s (19.1%), and under 20s (5.3%).
By age group, the average number of domestic stocks held by retail investors rose from 3.12 among investors in their 20s to 4.3 in their 30s, 5.34 in their 40s and 5.41 in their 50s, before dipping slightly to 5.1 among those in their 60s.
By age group, the average number of domestic stocks held by retail investors rose from 3.12 among investors in their 20s to 4.3 in their 30s, 5.34 in their 40s and 5.41 in their 50s, before dipping slightly to 5.1 among those in their 60s.
Among younger and older investors who borrowed heavily to bet on a rising stock market, warning signs are mounting. Borrowers in their 20s and younger and those 60 and older have higher delinquency rates on credit loans than other age groups.
Shinhan Investment Corp., one of South Korea’s major financial investment companies, conducted a survey of 400,000 investors who opened new accounts this year remotely, more than half of whom were members of the so-called MZ generation, with 33 percent in their 20s and 27 percent in their 30s.
According to an analysis by Datanews on the 23rd of Jinhaksa Catch's survey on 'experience in investing in semiconductor stocks', 42% of 1,472 Gen Z job seekers responded that they have experience investing in semiconductor stocks.
According to Vinu Labs Insight on the 9th, in the 'University Student Financial Literacy Survey' conducted through the university life platform Everytime last May, the proportion of university students who answered "currently investing" was 43.4%.
An analysis has found that younger generations tend to invest more heavily in overseas stocks and exchange-traded products (ETPs) rather than domestic ones.
More than 80% of people in their 20s have already started financial investing in their teens or early 20s, showing that the age of entry has significantly advanced.
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Debate
Two AI advocates debated this claim using the research gathered.
Argument for
Multiple independent survey-based sources converge on the conclusion that a large share of South Koreans in their twenties invest in stocks: Source 1 (Yonhap) reports 39.2% of respondents in their 20s invested in stocks, Source 5 (Kyunghyang Shinmun) found 49.1% of 20-34 year-olds had stock investment experience, Source 27 found 43.4% of university students currently investing, and Source 29 (Opensurvey) reports over 80% of people in their 20s began financial investing by their early 20s. While some Korea Securities Depository figures (Sources 9, 10, 14, 17, 21) show single-digit percentages of overall market investors being in their 20s, these reflect the shrinking share of a specific demographic among all account holders on domestic exchanges relative to other groups, not the proportion of young people who invest at all—so they do not contradict the survey evidence that a large proportion of Korean twenty-somethings personally engage in stock investing, including via crypto, overseas markets, and informal channels as documented in Sources 3, 7, 15, 19, and 20.
The Proponent relies on severely outdated pandemic-era surveys from 2020 and 2021, such as Source 1 (yna.co.kr) and Source 5 (khan.co.kr), to inflate participation rates while deliberately ignoring recent data confirming that hundreds of thousands of young adults have since abandoned the market (Source 8, mk.co.kr). Furthermore, the Proponent's attempt to dismiss this documented exodus as a mere shift to foreign assets is directly contradicted by Source 4 (kcmi.re.kr), which establishes that nearly 90% of all individual investors remain exclusively in the domestic market.
Argument against
While some surveys suggest rising interest, hard data proves that young South Koreans are actually fleeing the market, with the proportion of domestic investors in their twenties plummeting to a record low of 9.8% and accounting for a mere 8.8% of all individual investors (Source 10, Source 11). This mass exodus is accelerating as hundreds of thousands of young adults abandon equities, demonstrating that only a small, shrinking minority of people in their twenties actually invest in stocks (Source 8, Source 14).
Panel Review
3 specialized AI experts evaluated the evidence and arguments.
Reviewer 1 — The Logic Examiner
Source 1 directly reports that 39.2% of surveyed South Koreans in their twenties invested in stocks, and Source 5 provides consistent, though broader and weaker, evidence of stock-investment experience among ages 20–34; by contrast, Sources 8–11 and 14 report twenty-somethings' share among domestic-market investors, which cannot determine the share of all twenty-somethings who invest. The claim is Mostly True because the direct survey evidence supports a substantial participation rate, although the principal direct estimate is from 2020 and the newer evidence does not cleanly establish the current population-wide rate.
Reviewer 2 — The Source Auditor
The proponent's key survey sources (Source 1 Yonhap 39.2%, Source 5 Kyunghyang 49.1%, Source 27 university survey 43.4%, Source 26 42% Gen Z semiconductor experience, Source 29 Opensurvey 80%+ early entry) are independent, credible outlets using direct survey methodology that measures the actual question at hand—the proportion of twenty-somethings who invest—and they converge around 40-50%, a large proportion by any reasonable reading; the opponent's KSD-derived figures (Sources 9, 10, 11, 14, 17, 21) are reliable government-depository-sourced data but measure a different quantity (share of twenty-somethings among all market account holders, or share of the domestic investor population that is in their 20s), which is not equivalent to the fraction of young people who invest, since it is heavily distorted by population size and relative participation of other cohorts. Because the opponent's rebuttal conflates 'declining share of domestic investor base' with 'few young people invest,' while the proponent's more directly on-point survey evidence (despite some being a few years old) is corroborated by fresher 2025-2026 sources (Source 3 KCMI on near-doubling of youth financial asset holding since COVID, Source 7 National Assembly Futures Institute report showing 20-60% ownership rates by income bracket, Source 26 and 27 recent surveys), the weight of directly relevant, methodologically appropriate evidence supports the claim that a large proportion of Koreans in their twenties invest in stocks, even though the specific domestic-market participation rate has fallen.
Reviewer 3 — The Precision Analyst
Survey evidence directly measuring the share of people in their twenties who invest (Sources 1, 5, 7, 27) consistently places participation or experience in the roughly 39–49% range, which licenses the claim's qualitative “large proportion,” while KSD figures cited by the opponent (Sources 8–11, 14) report the share of all investors who are in their 20s and therefore do not contradict the claim's denominator. As worded the claim is therefore mostly true, with only the inherent vagueness of “large” and mixed current-versus-experience definitions as minor imprecision.
Panel summary
Direct survey evidence from credible Korean news and research sources places stock participation among people in their twenties at roughly 39–49%, supporting the qualitative description “large proportion.” Source analysis also shows that lower figures cited from securities-depository data use a different denominator—the percentage of investors who are in their twenties—and therefore do not refute the claim. The main limitation is timeliness and measurement consistency: the strongest population-wide estimate dates to 2020, while some newer surveys cover broader age groups, selected populations, or investment experience rather than current ownership. These limitations warrant a modest caveat but do not materially overturn the claim.