Korea has more workers 60 or older than any other age group: data

Government data showed Tuesday that of all the South Korean workers in the month of September, the largest portion of them were age 60 and over.

According to Statistics Korea and the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the country had 6.75 million workers in the 60-and-over age group as of September. The figured marked an all-time high for workers in this age group, with an increase of 272,000 compared to the previous month.

September also marked the first time ever that the number of workers aged 60 and over had surpassed those in their 50s, which marked 6.72 million in the same month. The two leading groups each accounted 23.4 percent and 23.3 percent of the entire workforce, respectively.

The two largest groups were followed by 6.19 million workers in their 40s, 5.47 million in their 30s, 3.57 million in their 20s and 142,000 between the ages of 15 and 19.

The percentage of older people in Korea's workforce has been on the upward trend since surpassing the 20 percent mark for the first time in May 2021.

The increasing number of older workers is in keeping with the rapidly aging population of the country. The average age of Korea's workers was 44.8 as of 2023.

With 19 percent of Korean workers aged 65 or above, the nation is already classified an "aged society" -- which is defined by the World Health Organization as one in which more than 14 percent of the population is 65 or older -- and is on the brink of becoming a super-aged society, with over 21 percent of the population being senior citizens.