Pension Receipt Rate Among Elderly at 47%... Annual Average of 7.1 Million Won

Personal Information Protection Commission and Ministry of Health and Welfare Combine and Analyze Pseudonymized Data of 3.4 Million People Related to Pensions

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] It has been revealed that about half of the elderly population aged 65 and over receive one or more pensions among the National Pension, Special Occupation Pension, Housing Pension, and Farmland Pension. The average annual pension amount was 7.1 million KRW.

On the 29th, the Personal Information Protection Commission and the Social Security Committee of the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced the 'Comprehensive Analysis of Old-age Income Security.' This analysis was conducted as a pilot case of pseudonymized data linkage, combining administrative data of 3.4 million people from 18 institutions. Pseudonymized data refers to information where parts of personal data are deleted or replaced so that individuals cannot be identified without additional information.

4 out of 5 in the top 20% income bracket are enrolled in public pensions

According to the analysis, about 72% of the working-age population (20?59 years old) had been enrolled in public pensions for at least one month. The average enrollment period was 120 months. The public pension enrollment rate for men was 77%, about 11 percentage points higher than that of women (66%). While women's public pension enrollment period stagnated after youth (20?39 years), men's enrollment period continued to increase during middle and older adulthood.

Among the working-age population, higher income levels corresponded with higher public pension enrollment rates and longer average enrollment periods. For the top 20% income group, the enrollment rate was 81%, and the enrollment period was 153.8 months. This was approximately 1.6 times and 1.9 times higher, respectively, compared to the bottom 20% group's enrollment rate (52%) and enrollment period (82.3 months).

The retirement pension enrollment rate among those not enrolled in public pensions was the lowest at 2.8%, and the longer the enrollment period, the higher the retirement pension enrollment rate. The retirement pension enrollment rate for the group with a long public pension enrollment period (39.7%) was about four times that of the group with a short enrollment period (10.1%).

Data provided by the Personal Information Protection Commission

Male elderly pension receipt rate twice that of female elderly

Among the elderly, about 47% received one or more pensions among the National Pension, Special Occupation Pension, Housing Pension, and Farmland Pension, with an average annual pension amount of 7.1 million KRW.

When divided by gender among the elderly, the pension receipt rate for elderly men (66%) was about twice that of elderly women (33%). The average annual pension amount for men (8.61 million KRW) was about 1.7 times that of women (4.89 million KRW).

The basic pension receipt rate (75%) for the bottom third of total pension recipients was about 2.5 times that of the top third group (29%). The participation rate in elderly job programs for the bottom third group (10.2%) was about twice that of the top third group (4.5%).

The related ministries plan to conduct in-depth analyses in the future, including complementary relationship analysis among old-age income security systems, assessment of income security status for low-income elderly, and analysis of blind spots.

Yoon Jong-in, Chairman of the Personal Information Protection Commission, said, "This achievement demonstrates that administrative data of about 3.4 million people, which were dispersedly managed and held by 18 institutions, can be pseudonymized and linked to contribute to policy analysis and improvement." He added, "We will continue to strive to activate the data economy."

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