South Koreans in their 60s are spending less money than those in other developed countries, showing a decline in consumption propensity, a report showed Thursday.

The propensity to consume among those in their 60s decreased 10.1 percentage points to 68.1 percent in 2015 from 78.2 percent in 2003, according to a report by the Bank of Korea on aging society and consumption.

“Generally, older people tend to show higher consumption propensity than middle-aged men and women. But elderly Koreans are showing a similar level with younger age groups,“ the report said.

In the cited period, the propensity of the 30s to consume showed a 3.3 percent decline from 76.4 percent to 73.1 percent.

The propensity to consume refers to the ratio of consumption spending to disposable income.

“Compared to elderly people in advanced countries, the consumption propensity of Koreans are unprecedentedly low,” the report added.

South Korea is one of the world’s fastest aging countries, where the population makeup of those aged 65 or older is expected to reach 18.82 million people in 2049, up three times from 2015’s 6.5 million, according to figures by Statistics Korea. 

By Kim Bo-gyung (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)