A Comparative Analysis of OECD Social Expenditure

Abstract

In 2019, Korea spent a total of KRW 299.8 trillion on social security, according to the OECD social expenditure statistics in March 2025. As a share of GDP, this amounted to 15.6 percent, a sharp rise from just 2.9 percent in 1990. The growth of social expenditures, occurring as the population ages at a rapid pace, poses the challenge of both controlling total spending and revamping the composition of such expenditures. Examined in terms of funding sources, benefit types, and programs, Korea’s expenditures across several subcategories—including ‘old age,’ ‘incapacity-related,’ ‘health,’ ‘family,’ and ‘unemployment’—emerge as quite different in composition from those of other OECD countries with high public social spending-to-GDP ratios. Although Korea’s social expenditures may have been structured reflecting current public needs and policy demands, active policy measures are needed to better manage and allocate these expenditures as the country transitions to an advanced welfare state.