Nearly 7 in 10 South Korean senior citizens want to keep working until the age of 73 amid a rise in life expectancy, a survey showed.

The survey by Statistics Korea showed 10 million, or 68.1 percent, of the 14.76 million South Koreans aged between 55 and 79, said in May they want to continue to work in the future, up 0.7 percentage point from a year earlier.

The elderly said they want to keep working until an average age of 73, unchanged from the previous year.

As for the main reasons for hoping to work, 58.7 percent wanted to earn living expenses. The survey showed 33.2 percent wanted to enjoy work as long as their health permits. (Yonhap)