The Determinants of Unmet Needs for Personal Assistance of the Disabled in South Korea

Abstract

This paper examines determinants of unmet needs for personal assistance among the disabled in South Korea. Using National Survey of Disabled Persons of year 2011, 2014, and 2017, we estimate linear probability models and ordered logit models and find that older, female disabled with worse health status, longer disability years, and living alone are more likely to have absolute unmet needs. We divide the sample by sex and age. Our findings show that determinants of unmet needs for older adults (persons aged 65 or above) are not greatly different from those for younger adults (aged 18-64), but marital status for males and household income for females seem to be a key determinant of unmet needs. We also find that reliance on informal care (family members) is greater for married males, larger household size, worse health status, home owners among the elderly, for more severe disability, mentally disabled, home owners among the female group.