정부 현물 복지, 의료 늘고 교육·보육 줄어…“저출생 고령화 영향”

The government's current welfare delivery, which includes medical services, is increasing while support for education and childcare is decreasing, according to the Ministry of Government Legislation. This trend is attributed to the effects of low birth rates and an aging population, as analyzed by the National Statistics Office.

In the 2024 statistics on social welfare transfers, the average household received 926,000 won in social welfare transfers, a 0.4% increase compared to the previous year. Social welfare transfers encompass free meals, free childcare, and medical expense assistance provided by the government in lieu of cash.

Social welfare transfers represent 12.5% of the average household income (7,427,000 won), which is a significant subsidy from the government. When examining the proportion of each sector, the medical sector accounted for 52.8% (488,000 won) of the total, a 1.6% increase compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, education and childcare sectors each saw a 1.6% and 0.3% decrease, respectively, with education at 40.7% (377,000 won) and childcare at 3.5% (32,000 won) of the total.

The National Statistics Office has been reporting these findings since 2022, revealing a persistent pattern of increasing medical sector spending while education and childcare spending trend downward. Lee Chang-jin, a statistician from the Ministry's Welfare Statistics department, explained that as the population ages, the proportion of medical spending will continue to rise, while the decline in child and young adult populations will lead to a decrease in education and childcare spending.

Notably, for households in the bottom 20% of income, social welfare transfers make up nearly half of their total income. The bottom 1st percentile households received 727,000 won in social welfare transfers, accounting for 46.8% of their average household income (1,552,000 won). Additionally, 88.0% of bottom 1st percentile social welfare transfers were allocated to the medical sector.

In contrast, households in the top 20% of income experienced the highest absolute amount of social welfare transfers, with 1,253,000 won (7.2% of their average household income) allocated to the education sector, which had the largest share among these households.