▲ National Pension Service
A structural reform of the National Pension system is being pursued in earnest to incorporate non-earning spouses, such as full-time housewives who were previously pushed outside the pension system simply because their income stopped upon marriage, as local subscribers.
This is a measure aimed at breaking away from the outdated framework of the "one pension per household" policy designed when the National Pension was introduced in 1988, and transitioning into a "one pension per person" system.
According to the major business status report presented by the National Pension Service (NPS) during the National Assembly's parliamentary audit by the Health and Welfare Committee, the NPS has formalized a subscription structure reform to include spouses without income and other groups in the National Pension as a core task for improving the subscription system that citizens can actually experience.
The core of the plan is to incorporate non-earning spouses currently excluded from local subscription targets, as well as non-earning youths aged 18 to under 27, into the system as subscription-exempt local subscribers.
Based on the resident registration population statistics from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, out of a total population of 29.4 million aged 18 to 59, public pension subscribers total 22.73 million, which combines 20.93 million National Pension subscribers and 1.8 million special occupational pension subscribers.
On the other hand, those excluded from legal subscription eligibility—such as non-earning spouses and non-earning youths under 27—reach 6.67 million.
Adding 2.42 million local subscribers whose contributions have been suspended due to unemployment or other reasons, and 450,000 long-term defaulters who have failed to pay premiums for 13 months or more, a total of 9.54 million people—or 32.4 percent of the population of mandatory subscription age—are placed in the pension blind spot.
Under the current National Pension Act, even if individuals have no income, unmarried persons are classified as subscription-exempt and maintain their subscriber status, whereas married non-earning persons with an earning spouse are classified as exclusion targets and pushed outside the system.
While unmarried non-earning persons can make retroactive contributions for up to 119 months during their subscription-exemption period or receive premium support for low-income local subscribers, full-time housewives with no past contribution history are completely excluded from both retroactive contributions and premium support.
Accordingly, the National Pension Service has decided to incorporate non-earning spouses and non-earning individuals aged 18 to under 27 as subscription-exempt local subscribers, and to prepare system-wide improvement measures so that the retroactive contribution system can be utilized by all citizens in alignment with its original purpose rather than just a select few.
Financial support to reduce blind spots will also be significantly expanded.
Starting January 1, 2027, youths born in 2009 who reach the age of 18 will receive support for their first-ever 1-month pension premium of 41,000 won, and plans are underway to raise the income threshold for low-income local subscriber premium support from the current monthly income of less than 800,000 won to less than 1 million won.
The maximum monthly support amount for farmers and fishermen's pension premiums was also raised from 46,350 won in 2025 to 50,350 won in 2026.
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