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KMID : 0613620080280020003
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Health Social Welfare Review
2008 Volume.28 No. 2 p.3 ~ p.32
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Asset Distribution, Inequality, and Poverty among Elderly Households in Korea
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Nam Sang-Ho
Kwon Soon-Hyun
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Abstract
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This paper investigates net-asset distribution, inequality, and poverty among elderly households in Korea. For this purpose, the recently released Korea Retirement and Income Study (KReIS) data were analyzed.
Major findings can be summarized as follows. Top one percentile of the elderly households owned 12% of total net-assets, top 5 percentile 34%, and top decile 49.3%. When it comes to total income, however, top one percentile earned 8.2%, top 5 percentile 23.4%, and top decile 36.1%. This confirmed one of the stylized facts on asset distribution that the concentration ratio of asset is higher than that of income.
Next, the net-asset poverty line was defined as the households with net-assets less that half (50%) of the median. According to the classification of the household heads by age, the poverty rate was 57.7% for those in their 80s, 47.5% for those in their 70s, and 28.6% for those in their 60s. The poverty rate increased with the age of the household heads, and the share of the asset-poor households was higher than the non asset-poor ones among the households with heads in their eighties.
According to the regression results of the logit analysis, there is high probability of being assetpoor if the household heads is female, if households living with monthly payments (Wolse), if households with young children (0-4 of age). With regard to the age of household head, the probability of being asset poor decreased until the age of around 63, and then increased thereafter. The probability of being asset-poor becomes lower if the level of education is higher, if the level of income is higher, if the physical health condition is better than average.
The government needs to initiate policy that supports asset-building program for people nearing retirement. This will eventually alleviate the asset-poverty of aged groups, and bring out maximum policy effects by helping successful establishment of the National Basic Livelihood Security system.
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KEYWORD
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Net-asset Distribution, Inequality, Poverty, Generalized Entropy
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