More Pension Beneficiaries Expected Next Year

The number of beneficiaries from the four major pension funds in Korea will increase to 2,922,000 next year, an increase of 381,000 from this year.

The pension for public officials in particular, whose ever-increasing losses are offset by taxpayers’ money, will see its number of beneficiaries increase by 23,000 to 272,000. And the funding burden is likely to increase further.

The Ministry of Budget and Planning announced its pension management plan for the year 2008 on Saturday. According to the plan, the four major pensions (for general public, public officials, teachers and soldiers) will see their number of beneficiaries jump 14.9 percent from 25.41 million to an estimated 29.22 million next year.

The amount payable will also soar from 13.5346 trillion won to 15.4361 trillion won.

The number of beneficiaries of the National Pension (pension for the general public) is expected to go up from 2.198 million to 2.55 million, and the total benefit amount is expected to increase from 5.1916 trillion won to 6.3927 trillion won.

The ministry has earmarked 6.0864 trillion won for public official pension payments for the year 2008, up from 5.5398 trillion won. The total amount of tax money poured into the public official pension fund is likely to reach 1.0532 trillion won.

The total number of pension beneficiaries, including the four major pensions, unemployment benefits, and industrial accident compensation, will reach 4.167 million next year, up 443,000 from this year, and the total amount payable to them is expected to stand at 21.5211 trillion won.

cha@donga.com