Korea elderly poverty rate highest at 49.6% among OECD states

The wealth inequality has widened to a record-high among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member states. Especially, Korea’s elderly poverty rate is reported to be the highest among OECD countries.

In its report titled "Why Less Inequality Benefits All" released on Thursday, the group said, “The average income of the top 10 percent in the U.S. was 19 times higher than the bottom 10 percent in 2013, far higher than the OECD average of 9.6 times.”

In the 1980s, the gap between the rich and the poor was around 7 times. Per nation, Sweden (5.8 times), Germany (6.6 times) and France (7.4 times) showed a lower gap than the average (9.6 times). Korea (10.1 times) and the U.K. (10.5 times) were above the average. The average income of top 10 percent in the U.S. was 18.8 times higher than the bottom 10 percent. The gap of assets was greater than the income inequality. Top 1 percent of the rich owned 18 percent of the entire assets while the bottom 40 percent had only 3 percent.

Meanwhile, the relative poverty rate (the proportion of households with incomes below the median income of the same age group) among the elderly over 65 in Korea was 49.6 percent, which was far higher than the OECD average of 12.6 percent. Other age groups in Korea showed lower relative poverty rates compared to the OECD averages. This is interpreted as that there is a serious income inequality among the elderly and welfare policies for low-income senior citizens are relatively weak in Korea.

bookum90@donga.com