Poverty Among Korea's Elderly Highest in the World

Korea has the highest poverty rate among senior citizens in the world even if their real estate holdings are taken into account, according to a state-run think tank.

So far the poverty rate among the elderly has been calculated solely based on income levels.

But the state-run Korea Development Institute in a report last week said, “Korea’s poverty rate among senior citizens stands at 34.8 percent based on comprehensive income as of 2017, the highest among eight major countries, including Germany (11.8 percent), the U.K. (9.8 percent) and the U.S. (10.8 percent).”

Comprehensive income includes “imputed” rent, or the rent an individual would pay for their own hous.

/Yonhap

The poverty rate among senior citizens falls to 26.7 percent if real estate holdings are also assumed as income. But even then Korea still ranks higher than the U.S. (nine percent), Germany (10.7 percent) and the U.K. (6.6 percent).

Based on disposable income as of 2018, the poverty rate among senior citizens stands at 43.4 percent, the highest in the OECD, where the average is 13.1 percent.

Poverty worsens as people get older. The rate stands at 45.9 percent among Koreans born in the late 1930s, compared to 37.2 percent among those born in the mid-1940s and 31.6 percent among those born in the late 1940s. It falls to 19.7 percent among those who were born in the 1950s and 13.2 percent among those born in the late 1950s.

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