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South Korea's elderly poverty rate has fallen below 40% for the first time, according to both domestic and international data, signaling that the financial situation of older Koreans is improving. However, South Korea still ranks first among OECD member nations in elderly poverty.

An analysis by the National Pension Research Institute of the OECD's biennial "Pensions at a Glance 2025" report, released Thursday, found that South Korea's income poverty rate among the elderly stood at 39.7%.

This is the first time South Korea's elderly poverty rate has entered the 30-percent range in OECD surveys. The rate has consistently declined from 49.6% in 2015 to 45.7% in 2017, 43.8% in 2019, 43.4% in 2021 and 40.4% in 2023.

The same improvement is clearly reflected in the latest domestic statistics.

According to the Household Finance and Welfare Survey conducted by the Ministry of Statistics, the relative poverty rate among Koreans aged 65 and older stood at 35.9% in 2024, measured by disposable income.

After rising for two consecutive years — from 37.6% in 2021 to 38.1% in 2022 and 38.2% in 2023 — the domestic elderly poverty rate reversed course in 2024, falling to its lowest level since records began.

The income poverty rate refers to the share of people living on less than half the income of the median household, when all households are ranked by income.

It is measured using disposable income — the amount left after taxes are deducted from individual earnings and public subsidies such as the basic pension are added.

Government support drives poverty reduction, but gap with market income widens

A particularly notable finding in the latest data is the effect of government welfare policy.

In 2024, the elderly poverty rate based on market income alone reached 54.9% — meaning more than one in two older Koreans was living in poverty before public transfers. After accounting for public pensions and other support, however, the disposable income poverty rate dropped sharply to 35.9%.

Comparing the figures with 2023 makes this policy effect even more pronounced.

In 2023, the gap between the market income poverty rate (55.5%) and the disposable income poverty rate (38.2%) was 17.3 percentage points. By 2024, that gap had widened to 19 percentage points — the largest on record — suggesting that government income support is playing an increasingly significant role in lifting the elderly out of poverty.

Despite the domestic figures hitting a record low and showing an overall trend of improvement, the economic hardship faced by South Korea's elderly remains severe by international standards.

The OECD average elderly income poverty rate is 14.8%, meaning South Korea's rate of 39.7% is 2.7 times higher. In 17 OECD member countries, the elderly poverty rate is lower than the overall population poverty rate. In South Korea, however, the elderly poverty rate exceeds the overall population poverty rate (14.9%) by 24.8 percentage points — the widest such gap among all member states. The next closest countries, Latvia and New Zealand, trail by 21.3 and 19.4 percentage points, respectively.

Poverty concentrated among women and the oldest-old; structural challenges remain

The structural vulnerability of women and the oldest-old remains an unresolved challenge.

In the OECD survey, the poverty rate among elderly men was 32.6%, while among elderly women it was significantly higher at 45.0%. Asset and income inequality indicators from earlier surveys also show that South Korea's Gini coefficient for disposable income among the elderly stands at 0.376 — higher than the 0.331 recorded for the general population. That contrasts with the OECD average, where income distribution among the elderly (0.306) is more equal than among the general population (0.315).

The Gini coefficient is a statistical measure of income inequality within a country or group, ranging from 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (maximum inequality).

By age group, the poverty rate for those between 66 and 75 was 29.8%, but it surged to 54.0% for those aged 75 and older.

While the record-low poverty rate is a positive development reflecting the visible effects of welfare policy, South Korea still ranks near the bottom internationally. Experts say that as the population ages rapidly, the country must continue to strengthen its social safety net — particularly for vulnerable groups such as elderly women and the oldest-old.


thlee@heraldcorp.com