60s in South Korea Face Rising Poverty and Industrial Accidents
- Eunyo Hwang
- Mar 30
- 2 min read
Mar 30, 2026
Eunyo Hwang
Recently in South Korea, it was identified that the quality of life of senior citizens must be renovated to continue the nation’s development in the long run. People in their 60s are in full effort to contribute their manpower by being employed as laborers to combat the increasing rate of poverty, which is relatively higher than those of other age groups.
A huge contributor to this professional opinion is rooted in the situation that the majority of the elderly inevitably face: poverty. According to the ‘SDG in the ROK Progress Report 2026,’ the relative poverty rate of disposable income in 2024 is 15.3%, which displayed an increase of 0.4% compared to last year. The poverty rate of South Korea is known as the ninth highest among OECD nations. Notably, it is substantially visible among the senior citizens; the rate of those who are above 66 is 37.7%. Particularly, 53.6% of women in this group face poverty.
Furthermore, the argument stems from the issue that the populace is susceptible to various industrial accidents; this does not only make it challenging for the seniors to fend for themselves but also threatens Korea’s potential economic growth. The elderly population is also prone to workplace jeopardy; about 142,771 of all victims of industrial accidents are 60 years old or more. Correspondingly, the number is proportional to that of fatal accidents in workplaces. Statistically, it is anticipated that the rate will keep increasing due to the dominant aging society in South Korea.
‘Employment,’ which is considered a direct remedy to the rising rate of poverty, does not seem to resolve the issue due to severe issues that a number of workplaces embrace. Experts argue that it is essential to logically identify how the laborers’ ages and the growth of accidents are correlated, then propose practical strategies to combat the matter. The economy of South Korea heavily relies on its workforce—especially that of the seniors—as the nation is titled the ‘aging society.’ With this, realistic and utilizable management is required to eradicate this endless cycle.
