▲ A person visits a National Pension Service office in this undated file photo. (Yonhap)

national pension-recipients

National pension recipients likely to surpass 8 mln this year amid aging population

SEOUL, March 2 (Yonhap) -- The number of recipients of the national pension program is likely to surpass 8 million this year, the National Pension Service said (NPS) Monday, amid the country's rapidly aging population.

The NPS expects the number of such recipients to reach the milestone mid-this year for the first time since the fund's introduction in 1988, after hitting 7.83 million in November.

"It is not certain whether it will be in the first half of the year or in the summer but (we) expect the number of recipients to surpass 8 million this year," an NPS official said.

The number of national pension recipients is likely to grow faster than expected as the country grapples with rapid population aging and a low birth rate.

In 2022, a National Pension Research Institute report forecast the number of recipients would reach 7.99 million this year.

South Korea has been classified as a "super-aged" society since 2024, when more than 20 percent of its 51 million population became 65 or older.

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