65살 이상 10명 중 9명 연금 받지만…절반은 50만원 미만

As of 2024, more than half of the pension recipients aged 65 and above receive only 50 million won monthly, according to the data. This disparity extends to gender and homeownership status. The youth participation rate in pension schemes declined due to the labor market crunch. According to the 2024 Pension Statistics, the number of pension recipients aged 65 and above increased by 5.6% from the previous year, reaching 9.12 million.

Of these, 91.2% receive at least one type of pension: national pension, basic pension, occupational pension, or private pension. The overall pension receipt rate rose by 0.3 percentage points to 91.2%. As the elderly population grows and the pension system stretches its operations over time, both the recipient count and the receipt rate will continue to increase.

While the average monthly pension amount rose to 73.7 thousand won, it still fell short of the national poverty line of 133.7 thousand won by 55%. The middle value of the monthly pension amount was 49.7 thousand won, which is 24 thousand won less than the average, indicating that half of the pension recipients fall below 50 thousand won.

Only 6.3% of pension recipients receive 200 thousand won or more. The gender pension gap stood at 41 thousand won, with men earning 95.7 thousand won and women earning 54.6 thousand won. This disparity is attributed to differences in labor market participation and income levels over the years. Men tend to have longer labor market participation and higher incomes, leading to higher national pension receipt rates for men and higher basic pension receipt rates for women.

Homeowners receive an average of 91.4 thousand won monthly, which is 1.6 times higher than non-homeowners (58.1 thousand won). This higher pension amount for homeowners is due to their higher income and longer insurance coverage periods. Pension recipients aged 60-64, who face a "income gap" while waiting for their pension to kick in, had a receipt rate of 44.4%, meaning more than half did not receive any pension.

Among them, those who reached the pension eligibility age (63) at 63-64 years had a receipt rate of 71.4%, while those aged 60-62 only had a 24.3% receipt rate. However, the average monthly pension amount for these age groups was 105.1 thousand won, which is 31.4 thousand won lower than the average for those aged 65 and above, due to the relatively lower pension amounts of basic pension recipients and the inclusion of less generous foundation pensions, as explained by the data source.