South Korea’s elderly poverty rate remains the highest among OECD nations. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 25 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s elderly poverty rate remains the highest among OECD nations, according to the “Korea SDG Implementation Report 2025″ released by Statistics Korea on March 24.
The comprehensive report, which analyzes Korea’s progress on 17 sustainable development goals through comparisons with other OECD countries, reveals both improvements and persistent challenges in the nation’s social and economic landscape.
While the overall relative poverty rate (percentage of population living below 50% of median income) decreased to 14.9% in 2023 from 18.5% in 2011, it has stagnated recently, maintaining the same level as the previous year. Most notably, the relative poverty rate among the elderly population (aged 66 and above) stands at 39.8%, the highest among OECD member states.
The report highlights several other concerning trends. The real GDP per capita growth rate declined to 1.3% in 2023, down 1.6 percentage points from both 2011 and 2022 levels of 2.9%. Manufacturing’s share of GDP decreased to 25.6% in 2023, down from 29% in 2011, though still remaining relatively high among major economies.
Gender representation in politics continues to lag, with women holding just 20% of parliamentary seats in 2024, ranking fourth-lowest among 38 OECD countries, where the average is 34.1%. This represents a decline from 21.3% in 2020, despite showing improvement from 18% in 2012.
Another concerning trend is the rise in nutritional deficiency rates, which increased to 17.9% in 2023 from 10.6% in 2011. While this issue previously primarily affected the elderly population, recent data shows a significant increase among adolescents aged 12-18.
However, the report also highlighted some positive developments. The health response capacity improved dramatically from 74.2% in 2010 to 99.1% in 2023. The proportion of households failing to meet minimum housing standards decreased from 7.2% in 2012 to 3.6% in 2023. Additionally, Korea’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) increased from $2.36 billion in 2018 to $3.13 billion five years later.
The unemployment rate remained relatively low at 2.8% compared to other OECD nations, according to the statistics office.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
