Concerns Over Premium Increases and Fund Depletion Due to Population Decline
Yet 57% Say "No Other Retirement Preparations"
More than seven out of ten people in their 20s and 30s distrust the National Pension Service. This is due to concerns about premium increases and fund depletion.
The Korea Women's Development Institute revealed these survey results on the 14th through the report titled "Challenges of Future Society Gender Equality Policies: Women's Retirement Income Security in a Super-Aged and Fourth Industrial Revolution Society." The survey was conducted online in July last year with 1,152 people aged 20 to 30 (600 men and 552 women).
According to the survey, 75.6% of respondents answered that they "distrust the National Pension system." By age group, those aged 35 to 39 (78.8%) showed the highest distrust, followed by those aged 30 to 34 (77.9%), 25 to 29 (75.8%), and 20 to 24 (67.8%), indicating that distrust increases with age.
The group with the lowest distrust was women in their 20s (69.2%), while the group with the highest distrust was women in their 30s (80.2%).
However, despite this distrust, 56.8% of respondents said they "do not prepare separate retirement income besides the National Pension," which is more than half of the total. This rate was slightly higher among women (58.4%) than men (55.2%).
The biggest reason for not preparing retirement income was "haven't thought about it yet," cited by 43%. This was followed by "low income" (25.2%), "excessive housing expenses" (9.4%), and "unstable employment status" (7.4%). Men in their 20s and 30s and women in their 20s ranked "haven't thought about it yet" as their top reason, whereas women in their 30s chose "low income" as their primary reason.
Among the 498 respondents who said they are preparing retirement income besides the National Pension, 62.7% (multiple responses allowed) mentioned "savings/deposits." This was followed by "private pension subscription" (56.4%), "investment in stocks, bonds, funds, cryptocurrencies" (52.2%), and "retirement pension" (36.9%). By gender, men (63.3%) most frequently chose "investment in stocks, bonds, funds, cryptocurrencies," while women (68.3%) most often selected "savings/deposits."
The main reason for distrusting the National Pension was "due to population decline (low birthrate and aging), I think the premiums I have to pay will continue to increase," cited by 89.3%. This was followed by "the amount I will receive in retirement will be too small" (86.3%) and "the fund will be depleted, so I may not receive the National Pension in retirement" (82.6%).
Additionally, 73.3% responded that "the voices of the younger generation are not reflected in National Pension reform," and 62.4% expressed concerns about the opacity of fund management.
The research team stated, "When reforming the National Pension in the future, if measures directly affecting the 20s and 30s generation are taken, they should be included in the discussion process, accompanied by sufficient official explanations and persuasion. At the same time, it is necessary to set pension reforms to guarantee income for groups disadvantaged in preparing retirement income."
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