October 2024
29Oct

Aging demographics push South Korea’s insurance market to $191 billion

As South Korea's population ages rapidly, the demand for health and retirement-focused insurance products is forecasted to drive steady growth in the nation’s insurance market. According to a recent GlobalData report, South Korea's insurance sector is expected to expand from KRW 218.3 trillion (US$167.1 billion) in 2025 to KRW 249.7 trillion (US$191.2 billion) by 2029, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.4%. “The South Korean insurance industry contracted by 7.5% in 2023 due to slower economic growth, which impacted...

October 29, 2024
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21Oct

The problem of aging is intensifying in Korean rural areas. In particular, in the case of rice farme.

71.1% of rice farmers aged 65 or older majority of people in their 70s and older Rice consumption per person has decreased by 14.8 kg over 12 years. The problem of aging is intensifying in Korean rural areas. In particular, in the case of rice farmers, more than 70% of elderly farmers aged 65 or older were found. According to the "Rice Consumption Trend Analysis" published by the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation on the 21st, the proportion of farmers aged 65...

October 21, 2024
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18Oct

Parametric Pension Reform Options in Korea

By Daniel Baksa, Boele Bonthuis, Si Guo & Zsuzsa Munkacsi Population aging in Korea will pose substantial challenges to the financial sustainability of its public pension system. Under current policies and plausible assumptions, public pension spending can increase by as much as 4 percent of GDP during 2020-70, while contribution revenue will largely stay constant. This expected rise in public pension spending mainly reflects the increase in the old-age dependency ratio (and therefore the number of pension recipients), the deceleration...

October 18, 2024
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09Oct

Korean public pension fund trailing peers on support for E&S votes, study finds

Korea’s National Pension System (NPS) is falling behind other large public pension funds on proxy voting, according to a study by local policy think tank the Economic Reform Research Institute (ERRI). With $818 billion in AUM, NPS is the second-largest pension fund in the world after Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund. However, analysts at ERRI said an inadequate voting policy on sustainability issues means the fund consistently ranks low among peers on support for global ESG proposals. The study compares NPS with six European,...

October 9, 2024
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September 2024
30Sep

Interview: “Focusing on well-being over numbers is solution to low birth rates”

The United Nations Population Division announced in November 2022 that the global population had surpassed 8 billion. This marks a doubling from 4 billion in 1974, a span of just 48 years. The world’s population exceeded 2 billion in 1927 and 1 billion in 1805. Over just 200 years, the global population has increased eightfold. However, the UN forecasts that due to a general slowdown in growth rates, the world population will reach 9 billion by 2037. Population growth has...

September 30, 2024
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24Sep

Korea promotes positive images of older workers amid aging population

As Korea is expected to become a super-aged society next year, with more than 20 percent of the population being 65 years or older, the government is stepping up efforts to promote positive images of older workers. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said on Monday that it will run a weeklong campaign to raise awareness of its efforts to create jobs for older adults and help improve perceptions of those who remain active in the labor market in the...

September 24, 2024
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04Sep

South Korea. Gov’t seeks to raise pension premium rate to 13% of income

The government is seeking to gradually increase the pension premium rate from the current 9 percent of income to 13 percent and the pension's income replacement rate from 40 percent to 42 percent through a major reform designed to restore public trust in the fund’s sustainability, particularly among young people. The reform plan, announced on Wednesday by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, includes measures to enhance fairness among different age groups by increasing pension premiums more gradually for younger...

September 4, 2024
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August 2024
29Aug

South Korea’s Yoon pledges urgent reform of $860 billion public pension fund

 South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday pledged urgent reform of the national pension fund, one of the world's largest with $860 billion of assets, to make it more equitable and to ensure income security for an ageing population. Yoon said there had been a loss of confidence in the pension system across generations and there was a need for fundamental and sustainable reform to restore the trust of those who needed it in retirement. "Now is the time to...

August 29, 2024
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26Aug

President Yoon to unveil pension reform this week

President Yoon Suk Yeol is expected to announce pension reform as early as this week that would expand benefits for conscripts and mothers to reduce the burden on younger generations and ensure the system's sustainability, a source said Sunday. "The president will hold a briefing on state affairs this week," presidential chief of staff Chung Jin-suk said in a high-level policy consultation meeting with the ruling People Power Party. "The president will share with the people his vision and ambition...

August 26, 2024
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23Aug

South Korea. Measures to strengthen retirement security are urgently needed

Even if the national and basic pensions and personal pensions received by the elderly aged 65 or older are added together, the monthly income is only 650,000 won. Six out of 10 recipients received less than 500,000 won. Critics point out that it is nothing more than a "money pension" that is far from a practical retirement guarantee, and some point out that measures to strengthen retirement security are urgently needed. On the 22nd, the National Statistical Office released "2022...

August 23, 2024
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