The old-age pension qualifying age
The age at which the old-age pension can be claimed depends on your year of birth. The ordinary rule is 60 years, but a 1998 reform steps that age upward in stages, reaching 65 years for anyone born in 1969 or later.
How the qualifying age is set
Article 61(1) of the National Pension Act sets the ordinary old-age pension qualifying age at 60 years. A 1998 reform then stepped that age upward by birth-year cohort — the table below shows the steps.
Article 61(1) of the National Pension Act sets the ordinary qualifying age at 60 years. A 1998 reform steps that age upward by birth-year cohort.
| Year of birth | Qualifying age |
|---|---|
| 1953–1956 | 61 years |
| 1957–1960 | 62 years |
| 1961–1964 | 63 years |
| 1965–1968 | 64 years |
| 1969 or later | 65 years |
⚠️ Source note: this table could not be confirmed against the primary Addenda (부칙) text of the National Pension Act. It is drawn instead from two independent secondary sources that agree on every boundary — unlike every other figure on this page, it is not confirmed against the statute's own wording. For an authoritative check, contact the National Pension Service (1355 within Korea).
After the table
Both secondary sources report that from 1969 onward the age stops rising at 65 years— the table’s final band simply continues.
The insurance-service condition
Reaching the qualifying age is not enough on its own — you also need at least 10년 of insurance service, a condition that applies the same way across every row of the table above.