[The Era of 10 Million Elderly]① Aging South Korea: Elderly Budget Increased but Proportion Remains the Same

This Year's Elderly Health and Welfare Budget 25.6483 Trillion Won
Total Amount Quadrupled Compared to 10 Years Ago
"More Budget Needed for Elderly Jobs and Welfare"

Editor's NoteSouth Korea is entering a super-aged society where the elderly population ratio exceeds 20%. Korea is one of the top three countries in the world with a life expectancy of 83.6 years. The three major difficulties faced by the Korean elderly, who live the longest old age period in the world, are 'disease, poverty, and loneliness.' Today, we examine the quality of life of the elderly in Korea and explore how health and welfare policies are being developed to alleviate the 'three hardships of old age.'

[The Era of 10 Million Elderly]① Aging South Korea: Elderly Budget Increased but Proportion Remains the Same

On the 3rd, residents were taking a walk at Spring County Xi, a senior welfare housing complex in Yongin City. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Our country's population is aging rapidly. The proportion of elderly people aged 65 and over, which was 3% in 1970, exceeded 10% in 2008, and will surpass 20% next year, just 17 years later, exceeding 10 million people. It is projected that by 2036, the elderly population will exceed 30%. Correspondingly, the budget for elderly health and welfare is also increasing rapidly, having more than quadrupled over the past decade. However, the proportion of the elderly budget within the total budget has remained in the 3% range for five years, raising concerns that it is insufficient to keep pace with the accelerating aging response.

Elderly Budget Increased by 10.4%... Preparing for 'Unprepared Old Age'

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the 18th, the elderly health and welfare budget, which was 6.3848 trillion KRW in 2014, increased to 18.8723 trillion KRW in 2021 and 25.6483 trillion KRW this year. Especially this year, despite fiscal tightening, the budget was increased by 2.4194 trillion KRW (10.4%) from last year's 23.2289 trillion KRW to address elderly issues such as disease, poverty, and loneliness. According to Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics, from 2020 to 2024, the elderly budget has increased by about 2.25 trillion KRW annually on average, and this year slightly exceeds that average.

Lee Ki-il, Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, said, "The budget related to the elderly must increase in proportion to the growing elderly population," and added, "We will actively work on the elderly care system and workforce reinforcement." He also said, "We will develop various welfare services tailored to the increasingly diverse psychological, social, and cultural needs of the elderly."

Breaking down the elderly budget into measures for 'disease, poverty, and loneliness,' the budget for the elderly long-term care insurance project increased by 11.3% compared to last year, and the budget for customized elderly care services increased by 9%. The number of social workers dedicated to the elderly using this budget increased from 2,149 to 2,292, and the number of life support workers increased from 34,375 to 36,667, an increase of 143 and 2,292 respectively compared to last year. Support for geriatric diseases is also being strengthened. The Ministry of Health and Welfare will launch a pilot project for dementia management primary care doctors in July to enable dementia patients to receive treatment and management at their residences. Support for knee artificial joint surgery will be provided to basic livelihood security recipients, near-poverty groups, and single-parent families. Eye surgeries such as cataract and glaucoma will also receive additional support, increasing from 5,645 cases last year to 6,605 cases, an additional 960 cases. In the first half of this year, customized support for incontinence treatment, including surgery costs and medical devices, will be provided to 40 local governments.

For 'poverty,' 2.0264 trillion KRW will be spent this year on elderly job programs. The increase rate (31.6%) is the highest among elderly budget items. The number of elderly jobs, which was 883,000 last year, will be expanded by 147,000 to 1.03 million this year, and wages will also be raised. The monthly wage for public service-type activities such as volunteering at childcare facilities will increase from 270,000 KRW to 290,000 KRW, and for social service-type jobs such as public administration support, it will increase from 713,000 KRW to 761,000 KRW.

The largest portion of the elderly budget, the basic pension budget, increased by 9%. The number of basic pension recipients increased by 356,000 from 6.65 million last year to 7.006 million this year, and the number of recipients is expected to continue to rise due to ongoing aging. The government plans to raise the basic pension to 400,000 KRW per month by 2027.

To address the issue of 'loneliness' (quality of life), projects such as senior centers are also being strengthened. The budget for supporting elderly organizations is 84.3 billion KRW, a 6.1% increase from the previous year. Of this, 95% is used to support senior centers nationwide through local governments. The Ministry of Health and Welfare currently provides meals at only 42% of senior centers but plans to gradually expand this. A ministry official said, "The goal is to expand meal provision from the current 28,000 senior centers to all 68,000 centers in the future."

The United Nations classifies a society as aged when the elderly population exceeds 10%, and super-aged when it exceeds 20%. The Vice Minister said, "The period for transitioning from an aged society to a super-aged society was 50 years in the UK and 10 years in Japan, but for us, it is only 7 years," adding, "While advanced countries had enough time to prepare, Korea is aging too rapidly, so we must hasten our preparations." He said, "We plan to increase elderly jobs to 1.2 million to provide jobs for 10% of all elderly and enable them to have meals at senior centers even on weekends," adding, "The budget for this must also increase."

One in Five is Elderly, but Budget Share Remains at 3%

Although the amount of the elderly budget itself is increasing, the proportion of the elderly budget within the total budget has remained in the 3% range over the past five years. It fluctuated between 3.2% and 3.6% since 2020 and slightly rose to 3.9% this year.

While budgets related to basic pensions and elderly jobs have increased, budgets for elderly health management and expansion of elderly care facilities have been reduced. The budget for 'age-friendly service research and development' to prepare for the era of 10 million elderly was cut by 100%. The average life expectancy of Koreans is 84.3 years (81.4 years for men, 87.1 years for women), ranking third in the world. Considering that Korea is progressing as a super-longevity country but has the highest elderly poverty rate among OECD member countries, there are calls for a balanced increase in budgets to solve elderly issues.

Professor Heo Joon-su of the Department of Social Welfare at Soongsil University said, "Analyzing the elderly budget over the past 10 years, it appears to be a conservative increase reflecting only the increase in the elderly population and rises in prices and labor costs," adding, "It is not a proactive increase in elderly welfare budgets to solve elderly problems." Professor Heo further explained, "The fact that the elderly budget accounts for only 3% of the total budget is because our government and National Assembly are generally stingy with welfare budgets," and said, "The perception of welfare budgets as 'handouts' must change." He added, "To solve the situation where Korea has the highest elderly poverty and elderly suicide rates in the OECD, universal elderly welfare policies supported by budgets must be strengthened."