"Accelerating Aging Population, Insurance Market Also Polarizes by Region"

Source: Korea Insurance Research Institute

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] As our society rapidly enters an aging era, an analysis has emerged that the insurance market is also becoming polarized by region.

According to the Insurance Research Institute's report titled "The Impact of Regional Population Movement on Aging" on the 19th, areas with net population outflow such as Busan, Daegu, Gyeongbuk, Jeonbuk, and Jeonnam showed a faster increase in the elderly population ratio, while areas with net inflow such as Gyeonggi, Jeju, and Chungnam showed relatively slower increases.

Among the regions with net population outflow, except for Seoul, population movement accelerated the aging process. In Seoul, although the elderly population increased, the inflow of people mainly in their 20s also increased, resulting in a relatively slower aging speed compared to other regions.

The report emphasized the need to pay attention to the fact that the impact of population movement on the elderly population ratio is becoming polarized: slowing aging mainly in the metropolitan area recently, while accelerating aging in other regions.

In particular, Daegu, Ulsan, Jeonbuk, Jeonnam, Gyeongbuk, and Gyeongnam showed a continuously increasing contribution of population movement to the rise in the elderly population ratio, raising concerns about rapid aging.

The report projected that if the phenomenon of relatively small young populations flowing into the metropolitan area intensifies, the aging problem in other regions will accelerate faster than expected, potentially causing serious issues related to elderly welfare infrastructure.

In the metropolitan area, it argued that since the issue of young single-person households may structurally increase rather than families, it is necessary to carefully set the direction of housing policies.

Senior Research Fellow Taeyeol Lee of the Insurance Research Institute stated, "Since the mid-2010s, the concentration of young people in the metropolitan area may have structurally intensified," adding, "It is concerning that the aging problem in regions outside the metropolitan area will progress at a faster pace."

Lee analyzed that from the insurance industry perspective, it is necessary to pay attention not only to changes in the population itself but also to trends in age-specific population movement, and to be mindful of recent changes.

He argued that if the net inflow of young people into Seoul and the metropolitan area continues to accelerate, the aging speed in local areas will increase further, polarizing the nature of the insurance market.

Lee explained, "There may be a need to approach marketing methods and related product supply with more differentiated strategies than in the past for the metropolitan area and other regions."

He added, "The rapid intensification of aging in local areas could generate new needs related to welfare, so it will be necessary to explore business opportunities related to elderly diseases, nursing care, and so on."

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