Comprehensive Verification of Eligibility Criteria by the Government
National Pension Research Institute Begins Analysis of Existing Models
The government has decided to conduct a comprehensive review of the criteria used to determine eligibility for the basic pension, which is provided to alleviate elderly poverty.
According to the National Pension Service on August 10, the National Pension Research Institute (hereinafter referred to as the Institute) recently held the "2025 Research Project Review Committee" and unanimously approved the research project titled "Analysis of Existing Models for Basic Pension Eligibility Criteria."
This study involves the Institute taking over the research on basic pension eligibility criteria, which had previously been handled by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The purpose is to thoroughly reexamine whether there were any errors in the previous methods and to use the findings as foundational data for future policy reforms.
The basic pension is a social security system that provides a fixed monthly payment to individuals aged 65 or older whose income and assets fall below a certain level. The eligibility threshold for the basic pension is crucial, as it serves as the "income baseline" that determines who qualifies for the benefit. The threshold is set based on the "recognized income amount," which converts all sources of income for elderly households?including earned income, business income, and assets such as housing and financial holdings?into a monthly income figure.
Current law stipulates that the bottom 70% of the elderly population aged 65 or older, in terms of income, should receive the benefit. Each year, the government forecasts the overall income and asset distribution of all seniors and announces the exact monetary threshold that corresponds to the 70th percentile. The maximum monthly payment is 342,510 won for a single-person household and 548,000 won for a couple.
The basic pension is different from the National Pension and other contributory pensions, which are paid out in proportion to the amount contributed. The basic pension is funded by national and local taxes. The required budget has increased from 6.9 trillion won in 2014 to an expected 26.1 trillion won this year.
The issue is that the eligibility threshold for the basic pension continues to rise every year. This year, even a single elderly person earning 2.28 million won per month (or a couple earning 3.648 million won per month) can receive the basic pension. However, since various deductions are applied to actual income when calculating the eligibility threshold, a single elderly person with an actual earned income of up to 4.37 million won per month can still qualify for the basic pension. For a couple, this figure is 7.45 million won per month, or 89.4 million won per year. As a result, there are increasing calls to significantly reduce the number of basic pension recipients and to provide larger pension payments to seniors living in absolute poverty.
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