The impact of demographic change on household debt

Meeroo Kim

No 143, KDI Focus from Korea Development Institute (KDI)

Abstract: Over the past two decades, Korea's household debt- to-GDP ratio has trended upward, reflecting greater incentives for asset accumulation amid rising life expectancy. Household debt has increased through different asset accumulation patterns across generations: older cohorts prepare for longer post- retirement years by building financial assets that supply funds, whereas younger cohorts borrow them mainly to acquire housing. However, this trajectory is forecast to reverse in the coming years as longevity gains slow and accelerating population aging reshape intergenerational financial flows. Maintaining stability in the short to medium term will require close coordination between prudent financial policies and non-financial reforms, such as improving labor market flexibility.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/343513/1/1982717378.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:kdifoc:343513

DOI: 10.22740/kdi.focus.e.2025.143

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in KDI Focus from Korea Development Institute (KDI) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics ().