By Song Sang-ho

Korea ranks second lowest in terms of social welfare spending within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to a report released yesterday.

In the report titled "An international comparison of the social expenditures," Gho Kyeong-hoan said that in 2008, Korea's total spending on social welfare amounted to 112.17 trillion won (S$136 billion), accounting for 10.9 per cent of the gross domestic product. Gho is a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs.

In the category - except for Mexico, which spent only 7.6 per cent of its GDP on social welfare - Korea ranked the lowest among the 30 OECD member countries. The OECD average stood at 23.7 per cent in 2005.

However, between 2000 and 2005 when Korea had gradually expanded its welfare spending, the average annual rate of the increase in social expenditures was 10.8 per cent, which is far higher than the OECD average of 4.9 per cent.

The rates for Mexico and Ireland were 14.3 per cent and 13.3 per cent, respectively.

"Due to the low birthrate and an aging society, the welfare spending will increase. To support the vulnerable, social contributions from private firms and voluntary donations from individual citizens should also increase," Gho said.

sshluck@heraldm.com