KOREA: Senior Citizens Don't Feel Old Until 70

. SEOUL, Korea / The Chosun Ilbo / News / July 1, 2009 While Koreans are recognized as senior citizens by the age of 65 with free subway passes and pensions, they only think of themselves as old after the age of 70. The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs commissioned Keimyung University to conduct a comprehensive study on 15,000 people aged 60 or over nationwide. It showed that 51.3 percent of the respondents considered between 70 and 74 as the starting point of old age. In a similar study in 2004 by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, 47.2 percent said the same. Some 24.1 percent in the new study said the age between 65 and 69 marks the start of old age, and 10 percent said between 75 and 79. Only 7.1 percent said between 60 and 64, suggesting the once widely celebrated 60th birthday is no longer the milestone it was. Seventy-one percent of the respondents said they do not need to live with their children in their later life, and 56.2 percent said sex is important later in life. The average monthly income of the respondents was W690,000, W1.08 million for men and W400,000 for women (US$1=W1,286). The average monthly allowance they received from their children was W156,000, W208,000 for men and W117,000 for women. [rc] Copyright © 2009 Chosun.com