The condition of asset poverty of the elderly In South Korea

Abstract

In South Korea (hereafter referred to as Korea), decreases in fertility rate and mortality rate have resulted in a population that is rapidly aging over time. In 2017, Koreans aged 65 or over constituted nearly 14% of the whole population; by 2067, nearly 47% of the population will be 65 or older (Statistics Korea, 2019). In these circumstances, the high poverty rate of the elderly is of particular concern to researchers and stakeholders. In 2017, the relative income poverty rate among the elderly aged 65 or over was 43.8% as measured by 50% of the median household disposable income. This was more than twice than the rate of the general population (17.4%; OECD, 2019). The income poverty rate is particularly higher for the older age group. The poverty rate of the elderly aged over 75 was 20% higher (55.9%) than that for those aged 66 to 75 (35.5%). However, a few current studies in Korea have shown that using the income poverty measure alone may overestimate the poverty condition of the elderly, and the poverty rate would be substantially lower if measured by assets (Ahn, 2019; Choi et al., 2016; Yun et al., 2017). These studies suggest that estimating poverty by income alone may distort the true poverty condition of the elderly, and that an income measure therefore needs to be supplemented by other poverty measures including an asset-based measure. While the income poverty measure allows us to check whether someone's income falls short of a minimum living expense level, the asset poverty measure gives us insight into a household's long-term financial security (Sherraden, 1991). The purpose of this study was to provide a better understanding of the actual poverty condition of the elderly by using both income and asset poverty measures. In addition, this study extends previous research by assessing the poverty condition of the elderly using both cross-sectional and longitudinal methods. Although some recent studies in

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