Time trend in life satisfaction of the elderly in South Korea

Over the last decade, the awareness of welfare in the Korean society has greatly improved, and welfare infrastructure has greatly expanded. With aging of the society, the interest in and support for welfare of the elderly has become more prominent in many fields. In this context, the present study aimed to investigate the time trend in life satisfaction among the elderly in South Korea over the last decade, as well as and to determine the factors related to their degree of life satisfaction. Using a nationally representative sample form, the Korean Welfare Panel (waves 1 to 11), descriptive statistics, a series of OLS, and Chow test were applied to verify the time trend and the determinants of life satisfaction among the elderly. The results demonstrate that the life satisfaction of the elderly increased by 17.8%, from 2.86 in 2005 to 3.37% in 2015, with the largest improvement in job satisfaction (26%) and leisure satisfaction (26%). Poverty, education and region were found to be the determinants of life satisfaction, and the results of Chow test showed that their influence was significantly reduced. These results suggest that the quality of life of the elderly is continuously improved by the expansion of welfare infrastructure for the elderly, and that the degree of life satisfaction and regional disparity are reduced. Based on our results, a discussion of practical and policy implications to improve the life satisfaction among the elderly in South Korea was made.