Department of Social Welfare, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Institute of Social Welfare, SungKongHoe University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2020 Feb 14;75(3):684-693. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gby047.
We examine the sharp increase in poverty among older adults since the mid-1990s in South Korea.
We apply decomposition analyses to quantify the contributions of demographic and household characteristics, as well as income sources, to the rise in poverty among older adults.
A rapid increase in the number of older adults living independently, combined with an increase in the number of old older adults, largely explains the rising poverty rate among Korean older adults. At the same time, market incomes and private transfers are no longer dominant sources of income for older adults. Gradually rising public transfer incomes offset most of the decline in market and private transfer incomes. Public transfer could not counteract the formidable consequences of changing living arrangements and other changes related to a rapidly aging population.
The Korean experience shows what would have happened to older adults in rich welfare states if mature old-age income security programs had not been in place. It may also provide some lessons for lower-income countries where poverty among older adults is set to become a larger problem in the coming decades.
我们考察了自 20 世纪 90 年代中期以来韩国老年人群体贫困率的急剧上升。
我们运用分解分析来量化人口和家庭特征以及收入来源对老年人群体贫困率上升的贡献。
独立生活的老年人口数量的快速增加，加上老年人口数量的增加，在很大程度上解释了韩国老年人群体贫困率上升的原因。与此同时，市场收入和私人转移支付不再是老年人的主要收入来源。公共转移支付收入的逐渐增加抵消了市场和私人转移支付收入下降的大部分影响。公共转移支付无法抵消生活安排变化和与人口快速老龄化相关的其他变化带来的巨大后果。
韩国的经验表明，如果没有成熟的老年收入保障计划，富裕福利国家的老年人会面临什么样的情况。这也为那些在未来几十年中老年人群体贫困问题将成为更大问题的低收入国家提供了一些教训。
