Breaking Retirement Pension for House Purchase 'Yeongkkeul'... 33% Increase Compared to Previous Year

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seonhee] It has been revealed that nearly 70,000 people withdrew their retirement pensions early last year. In particular, the number of people who withdrew their retirement pensions early to buy a house surged by nearly 33% compared to the previous year.

According to the '2020 Retirement Pension Statistics' recently released by Statistics Korea, the total number of early withdrawals from retirement pensions last year was 69,139. Among them, 29,231 people withdrew their retirement pensions early for 'home purchase,' accounting for 42.3% of the total. This figure represents an increase of about 32.7% in terms of the number of people compared to the previous year. It is the highest number since the related statistics began to be compiled in 2015.

On the other hand, the proportion of respondents who withdrew their retirement pensions early for 'long-term care' purposes decreased by more than 40% compared to 2019.

By age group, those in their 30s accounted for the largest share of early retirement pension withdrawals at 40.7%, followed by those in their 40s at 33.3%, and those in their 50s at 17.4%. In terms of amount, people in their 40s accounted for 36.7%, followed by those in their 50s at 29.8%, and those in their 30s at 27.4%.

Regarding reasons for withdrawal, people in their 20s mostly cited 'residential lease' purposes, those in their 30s and 40s cited 'home purchase,' and those aged 50 and above cited 'long-term care' as the main reason.

Last year, the total accumulated amount in retirement pensions increased by 16.1% from the previous year to 255 trillion won. The number of workplaces that introduced the retirement pension system increased by 11,000 from the previous year to 408,000. The adoption rate slightly declined by 0.3 percentage points to 27.2% compared to the previous year.

The total number of enrolled workers was 6,648,000, an increase of 4.3% from the previous year. The enrollment rate was 52.4%.

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