
Loans taken by small business owners in their 50s and 60s take up roughly 65 percent of all debt taken on by smaller entrepreneurs in the country, government data showed Sunday.
A total of 3.37 million sole proprietors in the country took out 1,125.3 trillion won ($763 billion) in loans from financial institutions as of November 2024, according to Financial Supervisory Service data submitted to Rep. Lee Kang-ill of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea. Of those entrepreneurs in debt, 2.03 million were in their 50s or 60s.
Small business owners in their 50s owed a total of 366.38 trillion won in debt, while those in their 60s collectively owed 370.9 trillion won, accounting for about 65.5 percent of the loans given to smaller entrepreneurs.
Of these older business owners in debt, 957,971 owed money to multiple financial institutions.
The total debt of 60-something entrepreneurs marked a substantial increase from roughly a year ago, increasing by 6.8 percent, from 348.37 trillion won in December 2023. The overall rate of increase for all age groups marked only 0.2 percent in the same period.
The FSS data also indicated that more of the small business owners were having trouble paying back the loans. It showed that 0.65 percent of the debt granted to sole proprietors was in arrears as of October 2024, up from 0.51 percent in the same month in 2023 and 0.22 percent in October 2022.
"Sole proprietors in the country are in crisis due to the economic slump, and older business owners in particular are having more trouble. It is crucial to provide a financial safety net to support them and the general public," Rep. Lee said.