Korea's state pension program provides coverage to approximately 4 million people monthly, with the number of recipients and pension payments growing steadily, data showed Tuesday.

The state pension program was introduced in 1988 to guarantee income for the elderly after retirement and to provide coverage for disabilities and surviving family members.

According to the data by the National Pension Service, 3.98 million senior Koreans receive a combined payment of 1.4 trillion won ($1.19 billion) per month as of April this year, with each pensioner getting an average of 889,000 won ($753). The largest monthly payment reached 1.88 million won. The number of pensioners was up from 3.59 million a year earlier with the total payments also marking an increase from 1.18 trillion won.

In 2002, the number of pension recipients stood at 917,000 with pension payments totaling 173.6 billion won. With the national pension system maturing further down the road, the number of pensioners is expected to rise to 5.93 million in 2020 and exceed the 10-million mark in 2030, the NPS said.

Senior Koreans are entitled to receive national pension payments after paying premiums for up to 10 years until the age of 60 during their working years.

In a report released a week ago, the NPS estimated that 91.3 percent of 17.62 million Koreans aged 65 and older are projected to receive various state pensions in 2060, when the country's national pension fund is estimated to dry up.

Experts point out that Korea's aging population is putting a strain on the pension system as the number of elderly grows faster than the labor force due to the chronically low birthrate.

Korea is on the verge of becoming an aged society, with the share of senior citizens reaching 13.1 percent of the country's population of 50.62 million last year. A country is defined as an "aged society" if more than 14 percent of the population are 65 or older. (Yonhap)