Elderly Drivers Proliferate on the Roads

Drivers over 65 are proliferating even faster than the country is aging, which is already the fastest pace in the world. Their number increased from 705,400 in 2005 to about 2.29 million in 2015, according to the Korean Road Traffic Authority.

But the elderly population grew from 4.37 million to 6.62 million over the same period.

The reason is that people who acquired their driving licenses in the 1990s, when most homes started owning cars, are now reaching retirement age.

The proportion of drivers in the elderly population jumped from 16.2 percent in 2005 to 34.6 percent in 2015.

KoROAD predicts that the number of elderly drivers will reach 4.18 million in 2020, because the 1.88 million aged between 60 and 64 in 2015 will then be over 65. Their number will jump to some 7.19 million or one in four drivers in 2025 if the trend continues.

Read this article in Korean