An increasing number of Koreans are choosing to spend less and save more as they live longer, driven by the need to secure funds for their personal wellbeing after retirement, a report showed Wednesday. The report, released by the Korea Development Institute (KDI), showed that life expectancy in Korea rose to 84.3 years in 2024, up from 77.8 years in 2004. Over the same time period, the average propensity to consume, a statistical term for the rate of income that an individual spends in proportion to saving or investing, declined to 48.5 percent from 52.1 percent. “Simply put, life expectancy increased by approximately 6.5 years over two decades, while tendency to spend decreased by 3.6 percentage points,” the KDI report said. The state-run think tank also found that for every one-year increase in life expectancy, the consumption propensity decreased by about 0.48 percentage points. Asked about the reason behind the reduction, the KDI pointed out that the legal retirement age remains unchanged at 60, regardless of life expectancy. “More people still need to work even after their retirement so that they can make a living,” it said. “But the jobs that are available in post-retirement are relatively unstable and low paid compared to the ones before retirement.” “In that regard, people are saving money as much as possible before they retire,” the KDI added. The think tank said the habit was mainly driven by those in their 50s and 60s, many of them just years away from retirement. The average propensity to consume went down by 7.8 percentage points from 2004 to 2024. And those in their 50s and 60s accounted for a 3.9 percentage point drop. “The fact that the corresponding group was responsible for half of the total decline is noteworthy,” the KDI said. "It is important to make it easier for seniors to find reliant jobs even after their retirement."     (ICE SEOUL)

Fonte notizia: The Korea Times