As the life expectancy of the elderly increases, Korea's economic participation rate of elderly people is increasing. However, the poverty rate for the elderly is still the highest among OECD countries.
According to the '2021 Elderly Statistics' report by Statistics Korea on the 29, the number of people aged 65 and older stood at 8.537 million this year, accounting for 6.5 per cent of the total population. Due to the low birth rate and ageing, the elderly population continues to increase. It is expected to enter a super-ageing society in which 1 out of 5 people is elderly in 2025.
As of 2019, the life expectancy of the 65-year-old population was 21.3 years, and the life expectancy of the 75-year-old or older was 13.2 years, up 0.5 years from the previous year, respectively.
Life expectancy refers to the average years remained for life after the reference age. It means that the 65-year-old in 2019 can live up to 86.3 years old, and the 75-year-old can live up to 88.2 years old.
As the elderly population increases, the number of working elderly people has been also increasing. Last year, the employment rate of the elderly aged 65 or older was 34.1 per cent, up 1.2 per cent (32.9 per cent) from the previous year. The employment rate of the elderly is still lower than that of the total employment rate (60.1 per cent) over the age of 15, but it has been on the rise since 2015. (ANI/Global Economic)
( With inputs from ANI )
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