Adjustment of the National Pension Standard Income Monthly Amount, Maximum Increase of 18,000 Won from July

The monthly insurance premium for National Pension members will increase by a maximum of 18,000 won starting in July.

On the 29th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Pension Service announced that the upper limit for the National Pension standard income monthly amount will be adjusted from the current 6.17 million won to 6.37 million won, and the lower limit will be adjusted from 390,000 won to 400,000 won, applicable from next month until June of next year.

The individuals most affected by this adjustment are high-income subscribers whose monthly income exceeds 6.17 million won.

For members with a monthly income of 6.37 million won or more, the income used to calculate the insurance premium will be fixed at 6.37 million won. Multiplying this by the current insurance rate of 9%, the monthly premium will increase from 555,300 won to 573,300 won, an increase of 18,000 won.

Workplace subscribers share the insurance premium burden equally with their employers, so their actual personal burden will increase by a maximum of 9,000 won. In contrast, regional subscribers must bear the full increase themselves.

Impact of Insurance Premium Changes by Income Bracket

Members with income between the current upper limit of 6.17 million won and the new upper limit of 6.37 million won will also see an increase in their premiums.

For example, a subscriber with a monthly income of 6.3 million won previously based their premium on 6.17 million won, but from July, they will pay based on their actual income of 6.3 million won, resulting in an increase in their premium.

There are also changes for lower-income brackets. For subscribers earning less than 400,000 won per month, the income calculation for the premium will be raised from 390,000 won to 400,000 won, resulting in an increase in monthly premiums from 35,100 won to 36,000 won, an increase of up to 900 won.

However, most members will not be directly affected by this adjustment.

Subscribers with a monthly income between the new lower limit of 400,000 won and the current upper limit of 6.17 million won will see no change in their premiums.

The National Pension Service notified subscribers whose standard income monthly amounts are being adjusted via mail by the end of June.

This adjustment of the standard income monthly amount is not a targeted "fine-tuned tax increase" for specific income groups but rather an annual procedure reflecting the income level changes of all subscribers.

According to the National Pension Act enforcement decree, the upper and lower limits are automatically adjusted each year in July based on the average monthly income fluctuation rate of all subscribers over the past three years, and this year’s fluctuation rate is 3.3%.

While the immediate increase in premiums may feel burdensome, there are positive aspects from a long-term perspective.

The more premiums paid now, the higher the pension amount received in the future.

Concerns have been raised that from 1995 to 2010, the upper limit was fixed at 3.6 million won for 15 years, meaning that the actual income increases of subscribers were not matched by the pension system, weakening its effective retirement security function.

To address this issue, a system for adjusting upper and lower limits linked to income levels was introduced in 2010. The current adjustment of the standard income monthly amount aims to maintain the real value of the National Pension and more accurately reflect the actual income of subscribers, thereby increasing future pension benefits and strengthening retirement income security.

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