Latest data shows people aged 65 and above, make up one tenth of South Korea's population.<br />Many of them are still working in order to cover various expenses, with the heaviest burden coming from medical costs... which are steadily rising.<br />Kim Ji-yeon reports. <br /> South Korea's population is transitioning from an "aging society" to an "aged society" according to the standards set by the World Health Organization and the United Nations.<br />Data released by Statistics Korea on Thursday shows... around 7-point-4-million out of the 51-point-6-million people living in Korea including foreigners... are classified as being in the elderly population.<br /> This means people aged 65 or older make up 14-point-3-percent of the country's total population in 2018.<br />It's an increase from last year's 13-point-9-percent... and the figure is expected to rise gradually to 41-percent by 2060.<br />The UN defines an "aging society" as one in which more than seven-percent of the population are 65 or older, a country with "an aged society" means the figure is more than 14-percent, and for a "super-aged society" it's 21-percent.<br /> The same data shows six out of ten elderly people have to work to earn a living, with only about a quarter of them being financially supported by their offspring or relatives.<br /> This comes amid rising medical expenses among the elderly population... which amounted to an estimated 36-hundred U.S. dollars per person a month on average in 2017... a near five-percent increase from the previous year.<br />Kim Ji-yeon, Arirang News. <br />
