Government data showed Monday that more older adults are being left behind in South Korea than they are in any other member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD).

According to Statistics Korea’s “2025 Statistics on the Elderly” report, the relative poverty rate, or the share of a population living on less than half of its median income, among people 65 and older stood at 39.8 percent in 2023, up zero-point-one percentage point from the previous year.

The figure is the highest among those of all 33 members of the OECD, based on 2022 data.

This year, people 65 or older reached 15-point-14 million, accounting for 20-point-three percent of the total population and crossing the 20 percent threshold considered by the United Nations to define a super-aged society.

The number of households headed by people older than 65 stood at six-million-187-thousand, representing 27-point-six percent of the nation’s total. That figure could surpass 50 percent by 2052, according to the report.

The net assets of senior households averaged 465-point-nine million won, or roughly 333-thousand U.S. dollars, in 2024, an increase of 15.5 million won from the previous year.

Nearly 58 percent of people in the 65-79 age group said they wanted to continue working to cover their living expenses.

The report indicated that only 35-point-five percent of older adults were satisfied with their current lives, up three-point-six percentage points from the previous year but lower than the overall population average of 40 percent.