“How much do I need for retirement?” A vague “more is better” doesn't help — you need a target number.
1. What you need. On the National Pension Service survey, the adequate cost is ₩1.976M a month for one person and ₩2.981M for a couple (the minimum figures are ₩1.392M and ₩2.166M). Respondents put the start of “old age” at 68.5 on average.
2. Where the gap is. The national pension does not come close — the average old-age pension sits in the ₩600,000s, so a couple both collecting reach only about ₩1M, leaving roughly ₩1.98M a month unfilled. And medical costs are not fully inside that living-cost figure.
3. What to do. Size the lump sum as monthly shortfall × 12 × expected years in retirement — a ₩1.5M gap over 25 years is about ₩450 million. Filling it with company and personal pensions and savings is what the “three tiers” means.
Use the figures below to see how far your national, company and personal pensions fall short, and what to do now.
Adequate retirement cost — the survey figures
These come from the National Pension Service's press release of 31 December 2025, “Results of the 10th supplementary survey of the 2024 Korean Retirement and Income Study.” It covered 5,138 households and 8,394 people aged 50 and over.
| Type | Adequate (monthly) | Minimum (monthly) |
|---|---|---|
| Single | ₩1.976M | ₩1.392M |
| Couple | ₩2.981M | ₩2.166M |
“Adequate” is comfortable living; “minimum” is basic subsistence. The same survey found respondents consider old age to begin at 68.5 on average.
This is where most people miscalculate. The couple's adequate figure of ₩2.981M is about 1.5 times the single figure of ₩1.976M, not double. The minimum works out at 2.166 ÷ 1.392 ≈ 1.56 times.
Read the other way: living alone costs far more per person than living as a couple. Housing and utilities don't halve when you split them. Budget “half of a couple's” and you will badly underestimate your shortfall.
It varies by region, health and housing, so treat these as a starting number. Owning your home mortgage-free lowers it considerably; renting with heavy medical costs raises it.
Count medical costs separately
The most commonly omitted item. Figures published in the National Health Insurance Service's magazine give a sense of scale.
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total health insurance treatment costs, age 65+ | ₩31.1173 trillion |
| Per person, per year | ₩4,387,000 |
| Share of all treatment costs | 39.9% |
People aged 65 and over account for roughly 40% of all treatment costs. At ₩4.387M a year, that is about ₩360,000 a month. Assume some of it sits inside the adequate figure above, and add more if your health warrants it.
Why the national pension isn't enough
The average national pension is well below the adequate cost — even a couple both collecting struggles to reach half of it.
| Item | Approx. |
|---|---|
| Couple adequate cost | ₩2.981M/mo |
| National pension (couple, illustrative) | ~₩1M/mo |
| Shortfall | ~₩1.98M/mo |
You fill this with company and personal pensions and savings — hence the three-tier structure built on top of the national pension.
For scale: national pension statistics show 6,535,724 old-age pension recipients as of the end of March 2026, or 84.7% of all recipients, with 7,718,639 recipients in total — up sharply from 5,388,022 at the end of 2020.
Estimating your retirement lump sum
Needed fund ≈ monthly shortfall × 12 × expected retirement years
A ₩1.5M shortfall over 25 years ≈ ₩450M. Inflation and returns shift this, but the point is a rough sense of scale. Use the compound calculator and the pension calculator.
The three pillars that fill the gap
| Pillar | What it is | The point |
|---|---|---|
| 1st — national pension | Baseline income | The longer you paid in, the larger it is |
| 2nd — company pension | Employer-funded (DB or DC) | With DC, how it is invested matters (DB vs DC) |
| 3rd — personal pension | Pension savings, IRP — your own | And a tax credit on top (pension savings and IRP) |
If income is too tight to reach the third pillar, the basic pension paid to low-income people over 65 is itself a strand of retirement income. The stretch between leaving work and the pension starting is covered separately in the income gap guide.
Where retirement income comes from
| Source | Note |
|---|---|
| National pension | Lifelong, inflation-linked; depends on years paid |
| Company pension | Employer-funded; DC returns matter (DB vs DC) |
| Personal pension/savings | Self-funded; fills the shortfall (pension savings and IRP) |
| Work income | Part-time after retirement; useful in the gap |
| Basic pension | For low-income over-65s |
The bigger your share of lifelong pensions, the safer against longevity risk. The stretch between leaving work and the pension starting is covered in the income gap guide. Turning the home itself into income, when the pensions fall short, is covered in the housing pension guide.
A worked case: 55, with retirement in sight
Say a 55-year-old employee wants 3 million won a month for a couple in retirement. ① Check the expected national pension with a calculator (say 1.2 million a month for the two of you) → ② review what the DC company pension is on track to hold → ③ plan to cover the shortfall — around 1.8 million a month — from personal pensions and savings → ④ pay into pension savings and an IRP over the working years still left, collecting the tax credit as you go. Even if it feels late, ten years builds a great deal.
What to do now — a checklist
- ☐ Fix your own target for monthly spending (adequate or minimum, adjusted for where you live and how you house yourself)
- ☐ Check your expected national pension
- ☐ Review what the company pension (DB or DC) holds and how it is invested
- ☐ Work out the monthly shortfall, then the lump sum it implies
- ☐ Plan to cover that shortfall from personal pensions and savings
- ☐ Check that medical costs sit as their own line
- ☐ Living alone, budget about two-thirds of the couple figure, not half
Questions you may have
Isn't ₩2.981M too much for a couple?
It varies. Owning your home with low spending, the minimum of ₩2.166M can work. Set a target for your situation.
Does living alone cost half as much?
No. The single adequate figure of ₩1.976M is about two-thirds of the couple's ₩2.981M. Budgeting half understates your shortfall.
Is the national pension really that small?
It's below the adequate cost on average, so extend your contribution years and add company and personal pensions. Past 60, voluntary continued enrolment runs to the day before your 65th birthday.
I'm in my 50s — too late?
No. Ten to fifteen years of compounding and tax credits still make a large difference; spending control and maximising the national pension matter more the later you start.
How many retirement years should I assume?
With rising life expectancy, 25 to 30 years is the prudent planning range. That is a planning convention, not an official figure.
Sources and where to check
- National Pension Service — press release on the 2024 Korean Retirement and Income Study, 10th supplementary survey (posted 31 December 2025, by the National Pension Research Institute). Source of ₩1.392M / ₩1.976M for a single person, ₩2.166M / ₩2.981M for a couple, the 68.5 average onset age and the 5,138 household, 8,394 person sample.
- National Health Insurance Service — Health iN magazine, issue 152. Source of the ₩31.1173 trillion total, the ₩4,387,000 per-person annual cost and the 39.9% share.
- National Pension Service — national pension statistics — benefit payments (as of end-March 2026). Source of the 6,535,724 (84.7%) old-age recipients and the 7,718,639 total.
Written as of July 2026. The minimum and adequate living costs and the onset age come from the pension service's press release, the elderly treatment costs from the health insurance magazine, and recipient numbers from the service's statistics. Note that the treatment-cost figures are on a 2018 basis and are likely higher now. Separately, the average national pension per recipient, the spending breakdown of older households, and the 25-to-30-year planning horizon could not be checked against a public-agency original — Statistics Korea and the national statistics portal would not open, so household spending and elderly statistics could not be cited. The shortfall and required-fund calculations in this article are simple arithmetic on the survey figures, not agency-published values. This is general information, not financial advice — confirm your own projected pension with the National Pension Service on 1355.
