Korean Social Insurance Calculator
Work out your four social insurance premiums (pension, health, long-term care and employment) from your monthly pay.
Your employer pays the same amount again
Your pay and the rates
The rates are set by enforcement decree and change most years. These defaults were read from the statutes on 2026-08-01. If a rate has changed, type the new one in.
Result
Your share
₩388,696
9.72% of your pay
Employer's share
₩388,696
Your employer pays this too
Pay after insurance
₩3.61M
Income tax still comes out of this
| Insurance | You | Employer |
|---|---|---|
| National Pension9.5%, split in half | ₩190,000 | ₩190,000 |
| National Health Insurance7.19%, split in half | ₩143,800 | ₩143,800 |
| Long-Term Care Insurance0.9448%, split in half | ₩18,896 | ₩18,896 |
| Employment Insurance (unemployment)1.8% split in half · the employer also pays the employment-stability portion | ₩36,000 | ₩36,000 |
| Total | ₩388,696 | ₩388,696 |
Pension, health and long-term care are split evenly between you and your employer. The unemployment portion of employment insurance is split too, but your employer also pays the employment-stability and vocational-training portion (0.25% to 0.85% depending on company size). Industrial accident insurance is paid entirely by the employer at a rate that varies by industry, so it is not included here. Income tax and local income tax come out of what is left.
How this works
What it calculates
On a Korean payslip the social insurance contributions come out before the tax, and they are larger. Four schemes are deducted every month: the national pension, health insurance, long-term care insurance and employment insurance, and the employer pays the same amount again on top. Enter your monthly pay net of tax-free allowances and the calculator shows, scheme by scheme, what you pay and what your employer pays, what share of your pay your contributions represent, and what is left once they are taken out.
The rates are fixed by law but change from year to year, so each one can be edited on screen. The defaults are the statutory values as of the date they were checked; when the year turns, enter the new rates and recompute. Income tax is not handled here; the net pay calculator deducts contributions and tax together.
Who uses it and when
Anyone with a first payslip who wants to check that the deductions are right. It is not unusual for an employer to apply a wrong rate or keep using last year's, and computing it yourself is the surest check. Before a salary negotiation you can see how much of a gross increase goes straight back out in contributions.
Employers about to hire need it too. Beyond the salary paid to the employee, the company pays contributions of the same amount, so the cost of an employee exceeds the salary. Industrial accident insurance is left out because its rate varies by industry; an employer has to add that share separately.
Legal basis and how the maths runs
Under 국민연금법 제88조 the national pension takes a set share of the standard monthly income, paid half by the employee and half by the employer. The rate is rising each year under a transitional schedule: in 2026 the combined rate is 9.5%, 4.75% for the employee, and in 2027 the combined rate becomes 10%. The standard monthly income has a ceiling and a floor: pay above ₩6,590,000 is charged only up to that figure, and pay below ₩410,000 is charged as if it were that figure. Both limits are reset by notice every July.
Health insurance is set by 국민건강보험법 시행령 제44조 at 7.19% of monthly pay, split equally, so 3.595% for the employee. Long-term care insurance is set by 노인장기요양보험법 시행령 제4조 at 0.9448% of monthly pay, also split equally; it is often described as a percentage of the health premium, but the regulation states it against pay. The unemployment benefit part of employment insurance is set by 고용산재보험료징수법 시행령 제12조 at 1.8%, split equally. The four rates add up to 19.4348%, and the employee pays a little under half of that. High earners pay a smaller share because the pension ceiling caps their pension contribution.
A worked example
Take an employee earning ₩4,000,000 a month net of tax-free allowances. That sits within the pension limits, so 9.5% is ₩380,000, split into ₩190,000 for the employee; health insurance at half of 7.19% is ₩143,800; long-term care ₩18,896; employment insurance ₩36,000. The employee's total is ₩388,696, 9.7% of pay, and the employer pays the same ₩388,696. Pay after contributions is ₩3,611,304, from which income tax is then deducted.
At ₩10,000,000 a month the pension is charged only up to the ₩6,590,000 ceiling, so the employee's pension share is just ₩313,025, while health insurance at ₩359,500, long-term care at ₩47,240 and employment insurance at ₩90,000 scale with pay in full. The total of ₩809,765 is 8.1% of pay, a lower share than at ₩4,000,000.
Common mistakes
The most common is remembering the pension rate as it used to be. The rate is climbing year by year, so last year's calculation differs from this year's, and the ceiling resets every July. The second is using gross pay including tax-free allowances. Items such as a meal allowance are excluded from the contribution base, so the contributions are lower by that amount.
The third is multiplying the long-term care rate by the health premium. A conversion ratio of that kind is widely quoted, but the regulation states the rate against pay, and so does this calculator. The fourth is forgetting the employer's share. The employer pays the same as the employee plus industrial accident insurance, so a hiring budget needs more than 1.1 times the salary. Finally, this calculator is for workplace-insured employees. The self-employed pay the full pension contribution themselves and have health insurance assessed on income and assets, so their figures differ.
Rates and where they come from
| Insurance | Full rate | You | Statute |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Pension | 9.5% | 4.75% | 국민연금법 제88조 |
| National Health Insurance | 7.19% | 3.595% | 국민건강보험법 시행령 제44조제1항 |
| Long-Term Care Insurance | 0.9448% | 0.4724% | 노인장기요양보험법 시행령 제4조 |
| Employment Insurance (unemployment) | 1.8% | 0.9% | 고용산재보험료징수법 시행령 제12조 |
Read from the statutes on 2026-08-01. Statute names are left in Korean so you can search them on law.go.kr. Because the rates sit in enforcement decrees and change most years, the calculator lets you edit them. Industrial accident insurance is not included, because the employer pays all of it at a rate that varies by industry.
About this calculator
When to use it
Use this to see what comes out of a Korean payslip and what the employer adds on top. Korea social insurance covers national pension, health insurance, long-term care and employment insurance. Korean social insurance is split between employee and employer, and both halves are shown.
What it calculates
The four insurances taken out of your pay, split with your employer.
Last updated . Found something wrong? Tell us.
Common questions
- How much comes out of my monthly pay?
- About 9.72%. That is half of each rate: 4.75% pension, 3.595% health, 0.4724% long-term care and 0.9% employment insurance. Income tax and local income tax are deducted on top of this. The pension rate rises 0.5 percentage points a year from 2026 until it reaches 13% in 2033 (국민연금법 부칙 제4조).
- Does my employer really pay the same?
- Pension, health, long-term care and the unemployment portion of employment insurance are split evenly. On top of that the employer pays the employment-stability and vocational-training portion and all of the industrial accident premium. Employing someone costs roughly 10% more than the salary itself.
- Why do high earners pay a smaller share?
- Only National Pension has a ceiling on the income it is charged against. Once your pay passes that ceiling the pension premium stops growing. Health insurance has a far higher ceiling, so in practice it keeps rising.
- Where do these rates come from?
- 국민연금법 제88조 sets the pension rate, 국민건강보험법 시행령 제44조제1항 the health rate, 노인장기요양보험법 시행령 제4조 the long-term care rate, and 고용산재보험료징수법 시행령 제12조 the unemployment portion. The statute names are in Korean because that is how you search them on law.go.kr. They sit in enforcement decrees and change most years, which is why you can edit them here.
- Do part-time jobs come with social insurance?
- If you work 15 hours a week or more you are generally covered. Below 60 hours a month, or in very short shifts, only some of the four may apply. Even day labourers are enrolled in pension and health insurance once they work 8 days or more in a month.
- Do foreign workers pay into these too?
- It turns on how you work, not on your nationality. If you work at a covered workplace you become a workplace-enrolled health insurance subscriber regardless of visa status (국민건강보험법 제109조제2항). Industrial accident insurance applies to every business that employs workers and does not ask about visa status at all (산업재해보상보험법 제6조). National Pension is the exception. Many countries have a social security agreement with Korea that lets you keep paying at home instead, so check with the pension service.
Social insurance premiums are deductible at year-end
Explainers that cover this
The assumptions and the statutes behind them, written out.
- Social insurance is not four — five lines of rates, and the ceiling that sets the ratioThe social insurance box on a payslip has five lines: national pension, health insurance, long-term care tucked after health, employment insurance, and industrial accident insurance paid entirely by the employer. On ₩3M the employee share is ₩291,522, 9.72%, but on ₩10M it is ₩809,765, 8.1%, so the higher earner pays a lower ratio. Only the national pension has a standard monthly income ceiling, ₩6.59M, above which no pension attaches. The employer pays the same amount, and from 1 January 2027 the pension goes to 10% and the first line rises by ₩7,500.
- You earn less, yet the premium grew — retirement is the day your status changesHealth insurance has three statuses: employee member, regional member, and dependent. The 2026 rate of 7.19% is the same for all, but what it is applied to differs. Employees are charged on salary alone and the employer pays half. Regional members pay it all themselves, with a property premium added to the income premium (pension income counts at only half). Dependents pay nothing but must pass all three tests (income of ₩20M a year or less, no business income, and a property tax base of ₩540M or less), and the income test is applied to both spouses.
- Unpaid health premiums can be deducted from out-of-pocket cap refunds — effective 8 October 2026 | offset by the arrearsWhen a year's out-of-pocket medical costs exceed the cap, the National Health Insurance Service refunds the excess. Today the refund is paid in full even to someone in arrears, but from 8 October 2026 the Service may deduct unpaid premiums and collections from the refund before paying it. It applies to excess amounts notified on or after the effective date.
- A three-year limit on assessing health insurance premiums — effective 27 November 2026 | six years for fraudFrom 27 November 2026, health insurance premiums and surcharges cannot be assessed once three years have passed from the day they could first be assessed. Where premiums were evaded by fraudulent means, the limit is six years. Today there is only a three-year limitation on the right to collect; assessment itself has no deadline.
- Employer surcharge for fake workplace members rises from 10% to 40% — effective 27 November 2026 | reporting reward introducedToday, an employer who falsely registers someone who cannot be a workplace member pays a surcharge of 10% of the premiums underpaid. From 27 November 2026 that surcharge rises to 40% of the difference, and the National Health Insurance Service may pay a reward to a person who reports the employer. It applies to false registrations made on or after the effective date.
- National pension contribution rate rises from 9.5% to 10% — effective 1 January 2027 | employee share 4.75% → 5%The national pension contribution rate rises from 9.5% to 10% on 1 January 2027. Employees pay half, 5%, and the employer pays 5%; self-employed and other regional members pay the full 10%. It is the second step of a ladder that climbs 0.5 percentage points a year from 2026 to reach 13% in 2033.
- Social insurance is five kinds, not four — the order they come out of a ₩3M salarySocial insurance comes in five kinds, and the payslip deductions are four lines. On ₩3M a month: national pension 4.75%, ₩142,500; health insurance 3.595%, ₩107,850; long-term care at 13.14% of the health premium, ₩14,172; employment insurance 0.9%, ₩27,000; and industrial accident insurance paid entirely by the employer. The employee total is ₩291,522, 9.72% of pay.
- Your take-home pay falls next year even if your salary does not — the 0.25 points of the 10% national pension rateOn the January 2027 payslip, take-home pay falls by ₩7,500 even with the same salary. The national pension contribution rate rises from 9.5% to 10%, so the employee share goes from 4.75% to 5%. On ₩3M of monthly pay the employee contribution rises from ₩142,500 to ₩150,000, and the employer pays ₩7,500 more as well.
- Same salary, higher pension contribution every year — 9.5% to 13%The National Pension contribution rate rises from 9.5% in 2026 by 0.5 points a year to 13% in 2033. Worker and employer pay half each, so on ₩3M a month the worker's share goes from ₩135,000 in 2025 to ₩142,500 in 2026, ₩150,000 in 2027 and ₩195,000 in 2033. The deduction rises even if pay does not.
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