Nearly two out of five South Koreans are expected to be aged 65 or older in 2050, a report showed Monday, raising concerns that the nation's fast-aging population could raise the financial burden for younger people in taking care of senior citizens.
According to the report by Statistics Korea, the ratio of those aged 65 or older to the nation's total population will likely grow to 38.2 percent in 2050. The ratio is much higher than last year's 11 percent and 3.8 percent in 1980.
The spike in the ratio of senior citizens is attributable to rising life expectancy and falling birthrates, coupled with enhanced medical technology that helps cure many previously untreatable diseases.
South Koreans' average life expectancy has been on the rise over the past decades. The report showed that life expectancy for Koreans stood at 80.5 years in 2009, compared with 65.7 in 1980.
As the ratio of senior citizens is expected to sharply increase, the report expressed concerns that the financial burden that working-age people have to shoulder in taking care of them will also likely spike.
According to the report, every 100 working-age people should take care of 72 senior citizens in 2050, sharply up from the 15 older people that they needed to support last year.
The latest forecast comes as South Korea is fast becoming an aged society, in which more than 14 percent of the population is 65 or older. Korea became an aging society in 2000, when the ratio exceeded 7 percent.
Challenges posed by an aging population have been drawing keen attention here, as fears mount that the demographic shift could dent overall productivity and growth potential down the road due to a declining workforce and an increase in welfare and medical costs.
The report showed 30.5 percent of the nation's total health care expenditures were used to treat such senior citizens in 2009, the first time the ratio has exceeded the 30 percent barrier. In 1999, it stood at a mere 17 percent.