Koreans in 50s burdened by higher expenditures

Korean householders in their 50s faced a heavier burden in terms of taxes, interest and insurance payments in the third quarter compared with last year, data showed on Sunday.

According to Statistics Korea, the average family with two or more members, in which the head of the household was between 50 and 59, spent 1.4 million won ($1,236) monthly on nonliving expenditures in the July-September period, up 30.7 percent from a year earlier.

With the average monthly income for such households estimated at 5.73 million won over the cited period, the figure translates into financial expenditures taking up a quarter of their revenue. Such spending accounted for 19.9 percent of the income over the three months of 2017.

Experts said that the findings indicate that the mandatory expenditures - such as public health insurance and taxes, increased - result in limited spending for other areas.

For all Korean households, nonliving expenditures were up 23.3 percent year on year in the third quarter, suggesting that householders in their 50s faced heavier burdens compared with other age groups.

The increased burden for householders in their 50s came as taxes and insurance costs increased along with income, experts said.

Yonhap