晚景淒涼的韓國老年人

For the past four years, Oh Soon-ja has pushed her rusty cart through the streets of Seoul, collecting boxes and cardboard.

Oh Soon-ja推着生鏽的手推車在首爾走街串巷，撿拾盒子和硬紙板，這樣的日子已經過了4年。

“It’s hard for me to Move around at my age but I have no choice — there’s no one to support me and my husband,” says the 68-year-old, who makes Won20,000 ($17.50) a day for her efforts. “It’s my fate — I have to live with it.”

“我這個年紀出去四處轉悠有些困難，但沒有辦法——沒人贍養我和我的丈夫。”這位靠自己努力每天賺2萬韓元（合17.50美元）的68歲老人表示，“這是我的命——我只能受着。”

Poverty afflicts almost half of Korea’s elderly — a generation that was once the lifeblood of the country’s remarkable postwar transformation into an advanced economy. With the basic monthly state pension of Won200,000 barely sufficient for food and lodging, many resort to menial or degrading jobs to make ends meet.

貧困折磨着近乎半數的韓國老年人——他們這代人曾是韓國戰後邁向發達經濟體過程中的中堅力量。每月20萬韓元的基本養老金僅夠維持食宿開銷，許多人只能靠從事卑微或低賤的工作來維持生計。

Some even resort to prostitution. In a leafy park nestled beneath the high-rises of downtown Seoul, women as old as 80 seek clients to take to the neighbourhood’s rundown motels. The “Bacchus Ladies”, named after the energy drink they flog as an opening gambit, have come to symbolise the profound demographic challenges facing the rapidly ageing Asian nation.

有些人甚至從事賣淫。在首爾市區高樓掩映下一處鬱鬱蔥蔥的公園裏，有80歲高齡的老婦在拉客，帶至附近破舊的汽車旅館。這些“巴克斯女郎”（Bacchus Ladies，這一叫法源於她們作爲開場白兜售的巴克斯能量飲料）象徵着這個迅速老齡化的亞洲國家所面臨的嚴峻人口挑戰。

“The sole reason they do this kind of work is to eke out a living,” says Lee Ho-sun, a professor at Korea Soongsil Cyber University and an authority on the sex workers — none of whom was willing to talk to the Financial Times. “These women feel disgraced and scorned doing this job in their old age. It causes them a lot of physical pain.”

“他們從事這一行當的唯一原因就是爲了謀生，”韓國崇實網絡大學(Korea Soongsil Cyber University)教授、性工作者研究權威Lee Ho-sun表示，“這些女性爲晚年從事這種工作感到臉上無光和被人看不起。這會給她們帶來切實的痛苦。”沒有一位性工作者願意接受英國《金融時報》的採訪。

The problem of old-age poverty is only going to get worse.

老年貧困問題只會變得越來越糟糕。

Amid dramatically increased lifespans, a falling birth rate and a slowing economy, the elderly population is ballooning. By 2060, 41 per cent of South Koreans are projected to be over 65, up from 13 per cent in 2015.

伴隨壽命大幅延長、出生率下降及經濟放緩，韓國老年人口數量正在不斷膨脹。到2060年，41%的韓國人將超過65歲，而2015年時的比例爲13%。

A recent study found that by 2030 Koreans will have the world’s longest lifespans, with women living on average until 90.

最近一項研究發現，到2030年，韓國將成爲全世界人均壽命最長的國家，韓國女性的平均壽命將達到90歲。

And the trend is not limited to South Korea, with many western countries, particularly in Europe, facing a demographic shake-up as low fertility rates meet soaring life expectancy. By 2050, 17 per cent of the world’s population — or 1.6bn people — will be over 65 years old, up from 8.5 per cent in 2015, according to a report by the US government.

這一趨勢並不僅限於韓國，許多西方國家——尤其是歐洲國家——也面臨人口結構的鉅變，原因是低生育率再加上預期壽命大幅延長。美國政府的一份報告顯示，到2050年，全球17%的人口（16億人）將超過65歲，而2015年時的比例爲8.5%。

Demographic pressures in South Korea pose a huge challenge to the nation’s economy and plans by President Moon Jae-in to jump-start growth, which has slowed to an annual rate of about 2.8 per cent in recent years.

國內的人口壓力對韓國經濟以及總統文在寅(Moon Jae-in)的刺激增長計劃構成了巨大的挑戰，近年來韓國經濟年增速已經放緩至2.8%左右。

The country’s birth rate, already the lowest in the OECD, is in freefall. Only 406,000 babies were born last year, down from 867,000 in 1981. In the first three months of this year the birth rate was down 12 per cent year on year. By 2031, South Korea’s population is expected to be in decline.

韓國的出生率已經處於經合組織(OECD)國家中最低水平，並且還在大幅下滑。韓國每年的新生兒數量已從1981年的86.7萬下降到去年的區區40.6萬。今年前三個月的出生率同比下降了12%。到2031年，韓國人口數量預計將出現下降。

“As the elderly population increases and the working population declines, the economy is going to shrink considerably,” says Lee Sam-sik, head of the Ageing Society Research Institute at Hanyang University.

“隨着老年人口增加、勞動人口數量下降，韓國經濟將出現大幅萎縮，”漢陽大學(Hanyang University)老齡化社會研究所所長Lee Sam-sik說。

“The burden on young people will be huge post-2030, when the baby boom generation becomes senior citizens [and stops working],” he adds, pointing out that South Korea’s baby boom came about 10 years after the west’s because of the Korean war. “We urgently need to draft a broad roadmap to increase the low fertility rate.” Lower education and childcare costs could help, says Lee Sam-sik.

“2030年之後，當嬰兒潮一代成爲老年人（不再工作），年輕人身上的負擔將非常大，”他指出，因爲朝鮮戰爭的緣故，韓國的嬰兒潮比西方晚到10年左右。“我們迫切需要繪製一條大致的路線圖來提高偏低的生育率。”Lee Sam-sik表示，降低教育及兒童保育成本可能有用。

Lee Sang-eun, a professor at Soongsil University, expects the nation’s current unemployment problems will soon give way to labour shortages. “If there are no workers available, companies will not increase investment,” he says. “Economic growth will be much reduced. That is certain.”

崇實大學(Soongsil University)教授Lee Sang-eun預計，韓國目前的失業問題將很快讓位給勞動力短缺。“如果僱不到人手，企業不會增加投資，”他表示，“經濟增速將大大放緩。這是肯定的。”

Few of South Korea’s elderly have prepared for retirement and many ploughed vast sums into their children’s education, leaving them strapped in later life, says Prof Lee of Korea Soongsil Cyber University.

崇實網絡大學的Lee Ho-sun教授表示，韓國老年人很少爲退休做好了準備，許多人把大量資金投入了子女教育中，致使自身晚年生活拮据。

She adds that with the youth unemployment rate hovering close to 10 per cent, many elderly receive little support from their own children. In August, Mr Moon vowed to increase basic pensions for the most needy to Won300,000 a month by 2021.

她還表示，隨着青年失業率徘徊在接近10%的水平，許多老年人得不到自己子女的支持。今年8月，文在寅誓言到2021年將最貧困人口的基本養老金提升至每月30萬韓元。

For box collector Ms Oh, this is too little too late. “I wish the government would provide some support but I’ve given up on expecting anything from them.”

對於撿拾紙箱的Oh Soon-ja而言，這些錢太少，也太遲了。“我希望政府能提供救助，但我已經放棄了對他們的任何期望。”

Choi Byung-woo, 72, blames his poverty on poor investments made by his wife. “I get Won200,000 a month from the government, which is not enough to cover my daily expenses. My life is miserable.”

72歲的Choi Byung-woo將自己的窘境歸咎於妻子的糟糕投資。“我每月從政府拿到20萬韓元，這根本不夠我的日常開支。我的日子過得很悲慘。”