Poverty of the Elderly in Korea

Abstract

Korea’s elderly poverty rate remains very high. The fact that a society long governed by the Confucian idea of respect for the elderly has a high elderly poverty rate is ironic. This paper reveals the causes of the exceptionally high poverty rate of the elderly in Korea. Significant reductions in the birth rate and the rapid aging of the population have fueled reductions in private transfers from adult children to elderly parents. Efforts to strengthen the public transfer system have not kept pace with reductions in private transfers in relieving elderly poverty. Korea’s experience provides policy implications to developing countries.