This Year, Seniors Account for 21.6% of Population... By 2050, "4 Out of 10 Will Be Elderly"

This year, people aged 65 and older account for more than 21% of the total population. After entering a super-aged society last year, the pace of aging has accelerated, and this proportion is expected to exceed 40% by 2050. The number of households with members aged 65 and over has reached 6.51 million, and it is estimated that this figure will surpass 10 million households by 2038. Although more elderly individuals are preparing for retirement and the assets of senior households have increased, the relative poverty rate among seniors remains the highest among member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), reflecting a persistent stigma.

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Old-age dependency ratio rises to 31.3... Projected to surge to 100.8 by 2066

According to the “2026 Elderly Statistics” published by the Ministry of Data and Statistics on October 1, the population aged 65 and over has reached 11,125,000 this year, accounting for 21.6% of the total population. South Korea entered a super-aged society last year when this figure exceeded 20.3%, and the share of senior citizens continues to increase. Projections by the Ministry indicate that the proportion of the population aged 65 and older will reach 30% by 2036 and surpass 40% by 2050.

The old-age dependency ratio—the number of seniors per 100 people of working age (15-64)—currently stands at 31.3. Given the ongoing aging trend, this ratio is projected to rise to 50.1 in 2036 and soar to 100.8 by 2066.

Looking at age breakdowns among seniors, this year, those aged 65-74 (6.69 million) outnumber those aged 75 and older (4,435,000). However, people aged 75 and older are expected to become the majority starting in 2038.

By region, Jeonnam has the highest proportion of elderly people at 28.6%, while Sejong has the lowest at 12.3%.

The number of households headed by people aged 65 and over is 6,507,000, accounting for 28.8% of all households. Among these senior-headed households, single-person households comprise the largest share at 38.0%, followed by married couples at 35.1%.

It is projected that by 2038, there will be more than 10 million senior-headed households, and by 2052, these households will make up over half of all households in Korea.

While the total number of divorces decreased by 3.3% last year compared to the previous year, divorces among men and women aged 65 and over increased by 10.0% and 9.8%, respectively. Meanwhile, total remarriages declined by 5.4% for men and 4.4% for women, but remarriages among seniors aged 65 and over increased by 5.0% for men and 6.0% for women.

On July 28, elderly people are seen waiting to receive free meals near Tapgol Park in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News.

Share of traffic fatalities involving elderly drivers expands to 33%

As of 2024, the average life expectancy for someone aged 65 is 21.7 years. For men, it is 19.5 years, and for women, it is 23.7 years—0.8 years and 1.9 years higher, respectively, than the OECD averages.

Among every 100,000 seniors, cancer is the leading cause of death (665.6), followed by pneumonia (281.8) and heart disease (275.9). Deaths due to Alzheimer’s disease have risen from 91.4 per 100,000 seniors in 2020 to 128.4 last year.

Last year, the median net worth for households headed by people aged 65 and over was 492.79 million won, an increase of 26.85 million won from the previous year. The relative poverty rate among retired persons aged 66 and over (as of 2024) decreased by 2.1 percentage points to 37.7%. Nevertheless, in 2023, it remained the highest among OECD countries at 39.8%. The income quintile ratio—which shows the income gap between the top and bottom 20%—was found to be 6.9 times.

The pension receipt rate among seniors aged 65 and over was 91.2%, with an average monthly pension of 737,000 won.

Internet usage rates among seniors have continued to climb, reaching 79.2% last year. Most, or 96.0%, used instant messaging applications, with KakaoTalk being the dominant choice at 99.5%.

Accidents involving elderly drivers continue to rise. The proportion of fatalities from traffic accidents caused by drivers aged 65 and over accounted for 33.1% of all such deaths, a 2.9 percentage point increase. The share of injuries attributed to elderly driver accidents also increased by 1.9 percentage points to 23.4%.

The proportion of seniors who reported being satisfied with their lives was 33.7%, down 1.8 percentage points, which is below the overall average of 45.3%.

Cremation now preferred funerary practice by 88%... Expanded by 19 percentage points in the last decade

According to 2024 data, 53.4% of elderly respondents believe that families, the government, and society should share responsibility for elder care. This response increased by 17.7 percentage points compared to 2014. The share of seniors who believe parents should handle it themselves fell by 6.8 percentage points to 17.0%.

Those who believe that chores should be shared equally by couples have climbed 16.7 percentage points over the past ten years, reaching 52.0%. The proportion of seniors who consider themselves healthy has increased by 8.8 percentage points in the same period, now standing at 29.7%.

Preferred health management practices include eating breakfast (91.6%), getting adequate sleep (82.4%), and exercising regularly (52.0%). In the last decade, the rate of getting adequate sleep rose by 1.4 percentage points and regular exercise by 9.3 percentage points.

As for securing living expenses, 74.7% of seniors provide for themselves or their spouses, a surge of 16.2 percentage points over the past ten years. Support from children or relatives dropped by 15.5 percentage points to 13.1%.

Income satisfaction among the elderly increased by 13.7 percentage points, now at 21.3%.

The share of seniors who stated they have someone to ask for help with housework when ill was 72.5%, while the percentage with someone to rely on when feeling depressed was 71.3%. These figures fell by 1.4 and 1.3 percentage points, respectively.

The percentage of seniors preparing for retirement spiked by 17.5 percentage points to 64.4%. As for retirement preparation methods, the National Pension (53.2%) was most common, followed by savings and deposits (20.1%) and occupational pensions (10.2%). The use of the National Pension increased by 24.5 percentage points, whereas reliance on savings and deposits declined by 8.8 percentage points.

For weekend (holiday) leisure activities, watching videos ranked highest at 80.3%, followed by rest at 78.4%.

Seniors who prefer cremation as their funeral method stood at 87.5%, a 19.0 percentage point increase over the past decade. In contrast, preferring burial dropped by 16.9 percentage points to 11.7%.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.