Analysis of the 2025 Budget for Old Age Policy

Abstract

As of now in 2025, Korea is already a “super-aged” society, with those aged 65 and older making up 20.3 percent of the population. This demographic shift puts upward pressure on social security spending. A review of the 2025 budget reveals that ‘old-age’ expenditures, driven by rapid increases in spending on such mandatory schemes as public pensions and the basic pension, have grown to the point of accounting for over 50 percent of the central government’s total social expenditure, while the share of local-funded projects has been on the decrease. Efforts have been ongoing to provide services tailored to local conditions through less costly initiatives, such as community integrated care pilot projects and job programs for older adults, while still keeping the rate of premiums constant for the Long-Term Care Insurance. The significance of the 2025 old-age budget lies in providing, in a cost-controlled way, a basis for a comprehensive array of community-based policy measures—including a community- tailored elder care system—to meet the needs arising from an increasingly aging population as well as for improving the quality of services.