Assessing Old‐Age Poverty in Korea: A Multidimensional Investigation and Generational Disparities

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates elderly poverty in Korea by integrating measures of income, assets, and consumption to provide a comprehensive assessment of economic well‐being. Despite a recent decline, Korea continues to exhibit one of the highest elderly poverty rates among OECD countries. Traditional income‐based poverty indicators may fail to fully capture the economic vulnerability of the elderly, highlighting the need for alternative approaches that incorporate asset holdings and consumption behavior. In Korea, however, the majority of the elderly with limited income also possess a disproportionately small share of assets and exhibit constrained consumption. Our analysis reveals intergenerational disparities as a critical factor contributing to severe poverty among the elderly. In particular, individuals born before 1950 experience significantly higher poverty rates, largely due to limited access to pension benefits and an unequal share in the gains from economic development. These results carry important policy implications, underscoring the need for targeted interventions to alleviate material deprivation among the oldest cohorts of the elderly population.