Seoul: The number of recipients of South Korea's national pension program is projected to surpass 8 million this year, as reported by the National Pension Service (NPS) on Monday. This increase is attributed to the country's rapidly aging population.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the NPS anticipates reaching this milestone by mid-year, marking the first time since the pension fund's inception in 1988 that the number of recipients could exceed 8 million. As of November, the number stood at 7.83 million.
An official from the NPS stated, "It is not certain whether it will be in the first half of the year or in the summer but (we) expect the number of recipients to surpass 8 million this year." The growth in the number of national pension recipients is expected to accelerate as South Korea continues to face challenges posed by rapid population aging and a declining birth rate.
In 2022, a report from the National Pension Research Institute had forecasted the number of recipients to be 7.99 million this year. South Korea has been classified as a "super-aged" society since 2024, a designation given when more than 20 percent of a country's population is aged 65 or older. With a total population of 51 million, this demographic shift poses significant implications for the nation's pension system and economic outlook.