This report analyzes the effect of the basic old-age pension scheme on the income and consumption of elderly households in each income quintile using actual quarterly household income and expenditure survey data from Statistics Korea and compares allocation of charges for funding for the basic pension scheme (KRW 7.86 trillion from the national treasury for 2016) among regions. 
 The analysis of changes in spending for each income quintile after the introduction of the basic pension scheme shows that spending on food and health & medicine increased in most income quintiles while spending on household goods, leisure such as entertainment and culture, and amenity goods increased in high income quintiles. These are considered to be positive effects of the basic pension scheme.  
 The analysis also found, however, that the average basic pension amount of the elderly households in the three or lower income quintiles was lower than other income quintiles. This regressiveness in basic pension benefits for elderly lower-income households seems to be a result of some of the elderly being eligible for national basic livelihood security benefits but not eligible for basic pensions. To resolve this problem, this report considered several options as to whether to include basic pensions in the recognized income when determining eligibility for national basic livelihood security benefits. This report proposed excluding the basic pension from the recognized income or including only some of the pension in the recognized income, in addition to the current practice of including all the basic pension in the recognized income. This issue needs to be resolved in comprehensive consideration of the original intents of the national basic livelihood security program and the basic pension scheme, fiscal soundness, and inducements to self-support. In particular, when excluding part or all of the basic pension from the recognized income, reasonable grounds are required. What is more, applicable laws need to be amended, including the Enforcement Decree of the National Basic Livelihood Security Act, to improve the system.
 Analysis of the allocation of funding for the basic pension among local governments shows that some regions did not conform with inter-regional equity, seemingly because the allocation criteria are rather unsophisticated even though funding is allocated depending on fiscal independence and the ratio of the elderly population. This report proposed actualizing and further breaking down the current criteria for differentiated state support. It also suggested an inductive approach through which the allocation ratio for the following year is determined on the basis of the number of recipients and the amount of pensions of the previous year for each region.
 To ensure the effectiveness of policies for the basic pension scheme and to render the scheme sustainable in order to provide greater security later in life in an aging society, the government needs to further endeavor to monitor the process of implementing the policies, evaluate the results of policies, and reflect the evaluation findings in the improvement of the system.