Senior citizens queue for a free meal offered by a charity organization at a park in Daegu, Tuesday. Yonhap

Korea has the highest poverty rate of senior citizens in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with 40.4 percent of those aged 65 or older having an income lower than half the median income of the total population, according to an OECD report, Tuesday.

Titled "Pensions at a Glance 2023," the report said Korea was the only OECD member state where the old-age poverty rate surpassed the 40 percent level.

Citing its findings in 2020, the Paris-headquartered organization said Korea's rate was also nearly triple the OECD average of 14.2 percent.

Of the 38 member nations, Korea's rate was higher than two Baltic nations — Estonia and Latvia — which recorded 34.6 percent and 32.3 percent respectively to round out the top three.

Japan's old-age poverty rate was half Korea's at 20.2 percent, while the United States showed 22.8 percent.

Multiple Northern and Western European countries had a single-digit old-age poverty rate, including Iceland at 3.1 percent, Norway at 3.8 percent, Denmark at 4.3 percent and France at 4.4 percent.

In Korea, the poverty rate was higher for older people, as it was at 31.4 percent for those aged from 66 to 75 but was at 52 percent for those aged 76 or older.

By gender, 45.3 percent of women in the bracket had incomes below the poverty line, compared to 34 percent of the men.

In particular, senior citizens in Korea had low disposable income, although their employment rates were higher than most OECD member nations.

Korea's employment rate of the targeted age group was 50.4 percent, the second-highest after Japan at 50.9 percent and far higher than the OECD average of 24.7 percent.

On the other hand, the disposable income of senior citizens in Korea was 68 percent of that of the entire population. The rate was the lowest among OECD nations, which averaged 88 percent.