25 research monographs published by KIHASA in 2023 include the following: 

• 1.A Study on How to Link, Integrate, Utilize Multi-Source Data to Vitalize the Data Economy in the Health and Welfare Sectors (II): With a Focus on the Linkage of Pseudonymized Data
  In line with the trends of open data, a growing amount of data is becoming accessible for users. However, such open data is primarily provided in unlinked, separte sets by different sources. In this study, our aim was to examine how data from multiple sources, when linked and integrated, can increase in utility and explore steps needed to be taken to overcome challenges in implementing data integration and linkage.
  
  

• 2.A Study on the Measurement of Working-Life Instability among Middle-aged People and Support Policies
  We looked at the working-life instability of the middle-aged, explored how it would affect their labor trajectories and income, and discussed potential support policies. The negative impact on the labor market trajectories and income of job loss and unstable labor for people in ther late-40s and early-50s, as observed in this study, highlights a significant societal issue. Involuntary unemployment from a career job leading to subsequent losses in employment trajectory and income confirms that reintegrating workers who have experienced involuntary early retirement into the labor market is a major task not only for the labor market but also for social policy.
  
  

• 3.Analysis of Changes in Health Behavior, Health Status and Medical Use during COVID-19 Pandemic
  The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2020, ended this year in May 2023. The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in health during the COVID-19 pandemic by dividing them into health behavior, medical use, and health status, and to suggest measures for effective health management. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in strength training and walking, while there was no significant increase in unmet medical needs. There was an increase in obesity rates and the prevalance of depressive disorders, both of which negatively impact health. Changes in health status and healthcare utilization also varied by gender, age, occupation, and income. During the infectious disease pandemic, it is necessary to ensure the public's health in various aspects and support health care for vulnerable groups, and to examine whether health changes during the COVID-19 pandemic continue after the end of the pandemic.
  
  

• 4.Family Formation and Income Distribution among South Korean Young Adults: Exploring Inequality
  This study investigates the impact of evolving family formation patterns, such as residential independence, marriage, and childbirth, on income distribution among South Korean youth. We examine which groups have experienced changes in the transition to adulthood over the past two decades, whether the impact of individual socioeconomic characteristics on marriage and childbearing has changes in recent years, and the impact of these changes on income distribution.
  
  

• 5.Improving Health Policy Governance for 'Health for All': Focusing on Child and Adolescent Health Policy
  Various ministries other than the Ministry of Health and Welfare are involved in health policy, depending on the characteristics of the target population group or the content of the policy. Accordingly, it is very important to cooperate and coordinate so that the policies promoted by each ministry do not conflict or overlap with each other and do not create policy gaps. Focusing on health policies for school-age children and adolescents, this tudy identified overlaps and gaps in the content and scope of health policies across multiple ministries and examined problems in governance.
  
  

• 6.A Study on Housing Support for the Aging-In-Place for Low-Income Elderly People with Dementia: With a Focus on Public Rental Housing
  Recently, dementia has emerged as an important social issue. As the population continues to age, the increasing recognition of seniors with dementia calls for proactive social interventions. The government began responding to dementia issues in the mid-2000s, and the policy focus is gradually shifting from medical response to care. Over time, dementia has transitioned from being perceived as a personal issue to a medical concern, then to a social care priority, and now to a community-wide challenge. Further policy steps are needed to enable older people with dementia, who until recently were considered unfit for cmmunity living and sent to hospitals or facilities, to live their old age in the community with housing and support services. This study aims to explore ways to enable older people with dementia, who are increasingly regarded as requiring social support, to continue to age in place, not in facilities or hospitals. In particular, from the housing policy perspective, we explore ways to provide stable rental housing occupancy and improved medical and care services for low-income seniors with dementia in community-living settings.
  
  

• 7.Human Rights and Protection of Residential Facility Users: Focusing on the Right to Self-Determination
  Policies for deinstitutionalization and community integration have been pursued for older adults, children, and individuals with disabilities. Despite these efforts, the dependence on facility-based care remains high for older adults, children, and people with disabilities. Continued efforts are required to monitor and improve the human rights and living conditions of older adults, children, and people with disabilities residing in residential facilities. This study examined the current status of the guarantee of the right to self-determination as a right to freedom for older adults, children, and people with disabilities residing in facilities.
  
  

• 8.Awareness and Preparedness of Korea's Future Disease Threats
  National health strategies can be detailed by considering future health and disease threats. Similarly, future disease threats play an important role in determining the direction and strategy of health policy. Recently, some research has been conducted to present and direction of health policy, considering issues affecting future health and disease. However, given the rapidly changing environment, continuous efforts to predict future health threats and collect the social opinions of experts periodically are needed to establish targeted healthcare policies. Therefore, this study aims to explore future health threats by investigating social perceptions and epert opinions on future risk factors and to suggest implications and directions for future health policies based on the derived risk factors.
  
  

• 9.A Study for Redesigning the National Family and Fertility Survey
  Renamed from the previous "National Fertility and Family Health and Welfare Survey" in 2021, the "National Family and Fertility Survey" has changed in content and sample frame to reflect current social changes. While the pre-2021 survey covers adult men and women aged 19-49, combining single men and women and married men into one sample. It is important that these changes are built into a stable system that can be maintained for the next 20-30 years.
  
  

• 10.In-Depth Researches on the Use of Administrative Data of the National Health Insurance Service for Social Policy
  This study aims to conduct research on key topics related to social policy using the Customized Income-Wealth DB, which is an administrative database built by the National Health Insurance Service. This study is a follow-up to Kang Shin-wook et al. (2022), which utilizes the same data and household composition methods, but covers more in-depth and expanded topics.
  
  

• 11.Nonmarital Cohabitation Characteristics and Policy Implications in Korean Society
  The purpose of this study is to understand the characteristics of nonmarital cohabitation in Korea, which has not been extensively researched yet. The current study seeks to understand the societal atmosphere and changes related to marriage or nonmarital cohabitation by examining people’s attitudes towards them. Additionally, the study aims to shed light on the characteristics of nonmarital cohabitation by utilizing data obtained directly from individuals who have experienced it. This research takes into consideration and explores the childbirth, attitudes towards children, and family-related perspectives of individuals who choose nonmarital cohabitation. Furthermore, the study examines the institutional desires of individuals who have experienced nonmarital cohabitation in Korea. Additionally, the study reviews relevant international institutions and investigates the experiences and opinions of institutional users. Finally, by synthesizing the research results, this study summarizes the characteristics of nonmarital cohabitation in Korea and seeks implications for policy development related to nonmarital cohabitation in Korean society.
  
  

• 12.A Study of Assessment of Social Cohesion Status with Policy Implications (X)
  The study aims to examine people’s perceptions of social conflict and draw implications for improving social cohesion, with a specific focus on fairness, younger adults, and disabled people. In order to do so, this study conducted a survey, targeting around 4,000 individuals nationwide.
  
  

• 13.Strategies for Expanding Family-Based Care for Children in Need: A focus on foster care policy
  This study aimed to develop policy interventions to bolster family-based care for children in out-of-home settings, safeguarding them from the adverse effects of institutional care. It scrutinized the concept of family-based care to delineate its policy boundaries and employed an analysis of the existing system alongside empirical data to pinpoint obstacles and challenges that impede the implementation of family-based care.
  
  

• 14.Perceived Social Insecurity and Its Implications for Social Policies
  The purpose of this study is to identify the types, levels, and related factors of perceived social insecurity. A significant proportion of respondents in the survey reported high levels of perceived social insecurity. Major factors influencing social insecurity perception are sex, income, asset, experience of socio-economic insecurity, and social support. This study proposed five major policy tasks based on the result of analysis.
  
  

• 15.Supporting Baby Boomers in Transition: Ways to Increase Their Social Participation
  As baby boomers enter their senior years, there is a pressing need to establish a novel social engagement framework tailored specifically to their needs. This study delves into the social engagement strategies that baby boomers employ as they navigate positive life transitions. It particularly explores methods to enhance the measurable and intrinsic value of the baby boomer generation’s experience and time, making them beneficial assets for society.
  
  

• 16.Responding to risk in transition to adulthood: Parental support and adult children’s experiences
  The transitional period to adulthood is becoming increasingly prolonged. This study sheds light on these changes in the transition to adulthood from the perspective of families, focusing especially on how the risks associated with the transitional period to adulthood are perceived, absorbed, or managed within Korean families.
  
  

• 17.Building a National Framework for the Monitoring of Social Spending
  Social security expenditures have risen sharply in Korea in light of ongoing socioeconomic changes in the population, the industrial structure, and the labor market. This raises concerns about national fiscal sustainability and fiscal consolidation, necessitating a monitoring approach that covers the entire area of social security. This approach should involve: reviews of fiscal risk factors; analyses of expenditure trends and drivers; medium- and long-term fiscal outlooks; identification of sources of uncertainty; and the monitoring of equity in allocations as an outcome measure. Such a systematic monitoring approach can lead to greater efficiency and equity in the allocation of public spending and contribute to public understanding, transparency, and government accountability through public reporting on social spending.
  
  

• 18.The Current Status and Responses Challenges of Gamete Donation Procedures
  Taking into account the rights and obligations of donors and recipients, as well as the rights of the child born, this study examined the present state and challenges associated with donor conception, denoting the process of conceiving a child through the utilization of gametes donated by a third party. It conducted an analysis of societal awareness concerning donor conception and endeavored to propose strategies aimed at enhancing legislative frameworks and institutional practices to ensure the establishment of a secure environment for donor conception.
  
  

• 19.Study on Sickness Benefits in Major Welfare States: Switzerland, Israel and the Netherlands
  While the majority of OECD member states use social insurance to secure sickness benefits for sick workers, some states rule that employers directly pay the benefit to their sick employees: Switzerland, Israel, and the Netherlands. This report analyzes the histories and current situations of the mandatory sick leave schemes in the three nations. As Korea is implementing the pilot scheme to introduce sickness benefits, the relationship between the government-implemented sickness benefits and mandatory sick leave is one of the pivotal issues. By studying the experiences, mistakes, system improvements, and reforms of the three countries in the process of operating their mandatory sick leaves, we aim to find policy implications for Korea’s future sickness benefits.
  
  

• 20.Basic research on social security reform to eliminate welfare no-care zone
  The income security system has had various social safety net programs since the 2000s. However, due to the limitations of each system, there are still wide no-care zones for the working poor. Therefore, evaluating the no-care zone and policies of the income security system for the working poor and identifying the consistency between the systems is an important issue. The following is what this study is trying to say. The Emergency Welfare Support System needs to be dramatically reformed in order for the working poor, who are in the no-care zone, to maintain a stable livelihood. In the short term, through the connection between the Emergency Welfare Support System and the National Employment Support System, livelihood support is provided, employment education, training, and job replacement to households in crisis. In the long term, the earned income tax credit (EITC) system must also be integrated and operated along with the system.
  
  

• 21.Monitoring of Policies for Low Fertility and Aging Society - Low Fertility
  The main purpose of this study is to monitor whether the low fertility response policies, such as policies to support pregnancy, childbirth and work-life balance, and the aging society policies, such as policies to support the elderly in work and social activities and policies to promote dignity at the end of life, as planned in the Fourth Basic Plan for Low Fertility and Aging Society, are being imeplmented in line with the shifted paradigm. The study also conducts a systematic in-depth review of whether local governments' policies on low fertility and aging society are consistent with the key tones of the same policies of the central government and whether they reflect unique local needs and resources in local governments' autonomous policy implementation in order to identify policy tasks based on the results. It also aims to closely monitor the implementation of the Fourth Basic Plan for Low Fertility and Aging Society in order to improve its effective implementation and collect basic data for the evidence-based formulation of the Fifth Basic Plan for Low Fertility and Aging Society (2026-2030).
  
  

• 22.Monitoring of Policies for Low Fertility and Aging Society ？ Aging Society
  This study aims to monitor the implementation of policies for aging society as planned in the Fourth Basic Plan for Low Fertility and Aging Society, in particular health care policies and two specific areas of social care policies, to ensure their effective implementation and to collect basic data for the formulation of the Fifth Basic Plan for Low Fertility and Aging Society.
  
  

• 23.2023 Poverty Statistics Yearbook
  Poverty and inequality indicators provide the data with which to measure the extent of vulnerable groups and people in need of social policy interventions and to evaluate the effectiveness of relevant policies. At the same time, they are essential for assessing the problems of Korean society and exploring policy alternatives with an accurate picture of Korea’s income distribution structure. This study provides reliable statistics on key indicators of poverty and inequality, as well as information to understand changes in each indicator over time. We hope that this study will provide basic data for policymakers, experts, and students who study poverty and inequality, as well as for researchers of income and asset distribution
  
  

• 24.2023 Evaluation of Operational Performance of Research Center of Low Fertility and Aging Society
  Population issues have emerged as a critical concern in Korea, requiring the prompt establishment of a system that can closely respond to these issues. This project, which entails the operation of the Research Center for Low Fertility and Aging Society, aims to address challenges such as low fertility and population aging, and this report outlines the direction of the project for the year 2023, detailing its operations and outcomes. This report suggests that population research should include a wide range of policy areas that may affect population policy and presents new tasks for more in-depth study, including the production and improvement of population data, their linkage to administrative data, and panel construction.
  
  

• 25.Social Security Field Monitoring ？ Field Experts and Workers Forum
  Since 2008, the Social Security Field Monitoring Project has organized a forum to discuss current issues, problems, and improvement ideas of social security institutions and programs by forming an expert committee composed of local government social welfare officials, social workers, and field experts. The project was in its 15th year in 2023, when the 9th Committee was formed. The topics of this year’s forum include social isolation and seclusion, adjustment and linkage of public assistance and welfare benefits, state intervention for social groups that ‘do not want support,’ and ways to make the survey for housing benefits more efficient. We hope that the discussions and ideas shared at this forum will provide useful information for public officials, social workers and other frontline workers, experts and academics, and civil society in the field of social welfare.