"Korea to Surpass Japan to Become World's Oldest Country by 2060"... U.S. Census Bureau Report

[Financial News] A U.S. government agency has projected that by 2060, South Korea will surpass Japan to become the "oldest country" in the world, with the highest proportion of the population aged 65 or older. Amid the accelerating pace of global aging, poverty rates among the elderly in both South Korea and the United States have been found to be among the highest in the world.
According to the 'Aging World: 2025' report released by the U.S. Census Bureau on the 3rd (local time), as global aging progresses rapidly, Japan, which was the oldest country with a 29.7% proportion of people aged 65 or older as of 2025, is projected to drop to third place by 2060, while South Korea is expected to become the world's oldest country with an elderly population ratio of 41%.
The report also pointed out that for the first time in human history, the proportion of the elderly population aged 65 and over has surpassed the proportion of infants and toddlers aged 0 to 5. The proportion of the global population aged 65 and over is expected to surge from 10.5% in 2025 to 19.6% in 2060. It was analyzed that while the world population, which surpassed 8 billion in 2023, is expected to increase by approximately 2 billion by 2060, the elderly population aged 65 and over will account for about 1.148 billion people, or more than half of the growing population.
In the case of the United States, the proportion of the population aged 65 or older is projected to increase from 18.9% in 2025 to 23.4% in 2060, but as the aging of populations in other regions such as Asia, Africa, and South America proceeds much faster, its ranking in terms of population aging among countries worldwide is projected to drop significantly from 48th in 2025 to 110th in 2060.
This report identified a major challenge in that while life expectancy has increased, "healthy life expectancy"—the period spent living in good health—has not grown proportionally. In the United States, 73% of seniors aged 65 and older suffer from two or more chronic diseases, and the rate of mobility impairment starting in the 60s is significantly higher than in major European countries. As of 2021, COVID-19 and dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, were included among the top five causes of death for the elderly aged 60 and older.
Economic disparities and social safety net issues were also pointed out. In a survey of elderly poverty rates among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries (as of 2020), South Korea recorded the worst level at 40.5%, while the United States also showed a high level at 21.6%.
The report found that while more than 50% of the elderly in the United Kingdom and New Zealand are volunteering, the figure in Ukraine, Guatemala, and Cape Verde is less than 10%.
Maria Aisa Lastra, a senior census officer at the U.S. Census Bureau, emphasized, "Population aging is progressing faster than ever before," adding that "the world must prepare for the socio-economic repercussions of aging, such as imbalances in mandatory care work, changes in the way older adults participate in the workforce, and social isolation."

[email protected] Yoon Jae-jun Reporter