Who Should Take Responsibility for Supporting the Elderly: Views of the Korean Elderly

As Korean society has undergone rapid socioeconomic transformation and reached the final stage of its demographic transition, the central emphasis of population policies in Korea has shifted from fertility and population control to aging issues. Recently, it has been advocated that the Korean government should provide more intensive public services to supplement self-care and family caregiving, heightening the need to know more about the norms and expectations of old-age support and how they will change. Using the Survey on the Living Status of the Korean Elderly in 1994, this study investigates the extent to which the Korean elderly themselves view family, self, or the state as desired sources of support. The multinomial logit model analysis reveals that the elderly without a son are less likely to emphasize the traditional view of family, while economically and physically better off elderly are more likely to favor the view of self-support. However, the idea that the emphasis on the "state responsibility" may be found among those elderly who are in need of financial help and in poor health is not supported. The implications and suggestions for further research is discussed.

Dataset(s): Survey on the Living Status of Korean Elderly: Korea, 1994.