By When you see the number of older Koreans walking around the streets of Korea doing things like picking up cardboard, this statistic is easy to believe:
The rate of poverty among elderly people in South Korea, one of the world’s fastest-aging societies, is the highest among leading economies, a report showed Saturday.
The poverty rate among households headed by those aged 65 and older stood at 45 percent as of 2006, more than three times higher than the 13 percent average among member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the agency said.
The OECD is a Paris-based organization comprised of the world’s developed economies. [Yonhap]
Really when you think about it is a shame that this many elderly Koreans live in poverty considering that this generation of Koreans are the ones who fought the Korean War that made the existence of the country even possible along with being the labor force that went on to create the economic miracle that is post-war Korea. If any generation in Korea deserves a generous pension plan it is this one.
6:58 pm on November 11th, 2008 1
Sad, but some of the most interesting conversations with Koreans during 1974-75 ( when I was first stationed there) was the issue of Americans not taking care of their elderly. Apparently we sent our elderly to nursing homes, (according to them) while they always took care of their elderly within the family. This was a point of pride for those that I talked to. It made a big impression on me at the time. ( I was only 24, and very nieve) When I finally returned from my seven years in asia, I looked at our system. It was much better than I thought, with meals on wheels, community elderly programs, and of course social security. I have since discovered that ‘nursing homes’ are still used, however only when the care becomes more than what a family can provide. (Nursing, personal hygiene care, medication , and special programs suited to the individual). I live in Florida where there is a large number of elderly in most communities. While there are the few who slip through the cracks, it is a very small number. The US system is holding up well.
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8:07 pm on November 11th, 2008 2
Korea may be not alone with this kind of problem, but isn t this report another indicator of how divided the society is? Very limited understanding between the generations who grew up in
totally different realities.
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7:34 pm on November 12th, 2008 3
[...] Korea doing things like picking up cardboard, this statistic is easy to believe,” says GI Korea — Korea’s Elderly Living in Poverty Highest in the OECD.The idea that Korea is the world’s most Confucian society is belied by this fact. In eleven years [...]
3:13 pm on November 22nd, 2008 4
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