Older people line up for a free lunch outside Tapgol Park in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Oct. 1.YONHAP
Within just a decade, three out of every 10 people in Korea will be 65 or older, according to new projections by the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
Korea’s population aged 65 and older stands at 11.13 million this year, which accounts for 21.6 percent of the total population, according to the ministry’s statistics on older persons released on Thursday. Long-term population projections show that the proportion will exceed 30 percent in 2036 and 40 percent in 2050.
The old-age dependency ratio, which measures the number of people aged 65 and older per 100 working-age people aged 15 to 64, is also projected to surge from 31.3 this year to 50.1 in 2036 and 100.8 in 2066. That means that in 30 years, older people will outnumber the working-age population that supports them.
The ministry releases its statistics on older people each year to coincide with the nation’s Senior Citizens Day, which falls on Oct. 2. The statistics cover areas such as demographics and economic activity. This year’s report also included an analysis of how attitudes among older people have changed over the past decade.
In 2024, 52 percent of older people said married couples should share household chores equally, up 16.7 percentage points from a decade earlier. The proportion who considered a balance between work and family life most important rose 8.1 percentage points over the same period to 49 percent.
The share of older people who considered themselves to be in good health rose 8.8 percentage points over the decade to 29.7 percent. More also reported efforts to maintain their health. Among specific practices, 91.6 percent said they ate breakfast, 82.4 percent said they got an adequate amount of sleep and 52 percent said they exercised regularly.
Older people line up for a free lunch outside Tapgol Park in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Oct. 1.YONHAP
In 2025, 64.4 percent of older people said they were preparing for retirement, up 17.5 percentage points from a decade earlier. The National Pension was the most common method of preparation at 53.2 percent, followed by savings and installment savings accounts at 20.1 percent and occupational pensions at 10.2 percent. Reliance on the National Pension rose 24.5 percentage points over the decade, while the share using savings and installment savings accounts fell 8.8 percentage points.
The proportion of older people who preferred cremation for their funeral arrangements reached 87.5 percent, up 19 percentage points from 10 years earlier.
The average net worth of households headed by someone aged 65 or older stood at around 493 million won ($362,000) last year, up 26.85 million won from the previous year.
The relative poverty rate among the retirement-age population, defined as those aged 66 and older, fell 2.1 percentage points to 37.7 percent in 2024, but remained among the highest in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Among people aged 65 and older, 91.2 percent received a pension, with an average monthly payment of 737,000 won.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
