Page 71 - U4SSC Case study Daegu, Korea (Republic of), February 2022

7.2.4 Water, wastewater and waste collection

These components of a city’s infrastructure are key to the quality of life, the health of a city and
its inhabitants, and the reduction of pollution. In each of these categories, the infrastructure is in
place, with 99.97 per cent access to potable water, 98.67 per cent of wastewater collected to 97.60
per cent for waste collection. What is outstanding is the performance for the KPI for water loss. In
Europe, the average water loss is 26 per cent, but some major cities there and in North America
have reported leakage rates of 30 per cent and more. Daegu’s reported data of only 3.94 per
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cent water loss is easily a value that most cities would be aspiring to achieve.

7.2.5 Employment

Daegu has reported a low level of unemployment (3.78 %) and youth unemployment (7.47 %). ICT
sector employment is at a credible 2.17 per cent and this should increase with the implementation
activities related to the Smart City Plan. Daegu currently has a low age- dependency ratio of 39.5,
indicating overall a low level of dependency for each worker. However, demographically most of
the dependents are seniors, which indicates a society that is aging, with Korea as a whole expected
to have more than 20 per cent of its population aged 65 years and older in 2026. 15

7.2.6 Public services

Providing public services through smart means is where Daegu’s commitment to smartness and
sustainability is best exemplified. With 13 805 services provided through electronic means and
more than 8 000 open data sets available, public services are where inhabitants interact with smart
sustainable city initiatives on a regular basis. Daegu’s focus on the inhabitant as the true customer
and receiver of benefits of their Smart City Plan is presented by these statistics.

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