Retirement Preparedness Still Shows Gaps in Finance, Health, and Relationships
Higher Scores Among Those with Higher Income, Education, and a Spouse
The level of retirement preparedness among South Koreans in their 30s to 60s averaged 69.9 points. While the overall level of preparedness has somewhat improved, the study found that significant disparities still exist in various aspects such as financial capacity, health, and interpersonal relationships.
Yonhap News reported on June 22, citing the "2024 Survey on the Status of Retirement Preparation and Study on the Segmentation of Diagnostic Indicators" by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, commissioned by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, that the overall retirement preparedness score of South Koreans rose to 69.9 points, a slight increase of 2.4 points from 67.5 points in 2019, five years ago.
This survey was conducted through interviews with 3,040 adults aged 30 to 69 nationwide between August and September of last year. The evaluation was based on 37 items across four domains: finance, health, interpersonal relationships, and leisure.
By domain, health scored the highest at 74.5 points, followed by finance at 67.6 points, interpersonal relationships at 64.9 points, and leisure at 60.3 points. Notably, the finance domain increased by 7.3 points compared to the previous survey, while the interpersonal relationships score dropped by 2.4 points. This is attributed to changes in family structure and lifestyle.
The level of retirement preparedness varied greatly according to economic conditions. Respondents with a "high" economic status scored an average of 73.4 points, while those with a "low" status scored 67.8 points. In the finance domain alone, the gap between the "high" and "low" groups reached 8.8 points. Economic disparities were also evident in leisure (high: 64.4 points, low: 57.3 points), interpersonal relationships (high: 68.2 points, low: 63.4 points), and health (high: 76.5 points, low: 73.1 points).
There were also notable differences according to household type, residential area, and family status. Those with a spouse (71.0 points) had a higher level of retirement preparedness than those without a spouse (65.6 points). Multi-person households (70.8 points) scored higher than single-person households (65.0 points), and urban residents (72.1 points) scored higher than those living in rural or fishing villages (67.2 points).
By age group, those in their 60s had the lowest level of retirement preparedness at an average of 66.9 points, while those in their 40s had the highest at 71.1 points. Respondents expected, on average, to be able to earn income until the age of 66.5, and those in their 60s planned to work until the age of 70.7.
Respondents estimated that the average monthly living expenses needed after retirement would be 3 million won, and rated their own retirement preparedness at an average of 5.28 points out of 10.
Meanwhile, although the government has been providing public retirement preparation services since 2016, awareness of these services remains low. Only 3% of respondents said they "have heard of and are well aware of" these services.
The report pointed out that "more active promotion of the system is needed so that more citizens can recognize and utilize retirement preparation services." It also suggested that "future surveys should include people in their 20s and improve diagnostic indicators by reflecting demographic and sociological variables."
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