The national pension fund will likely run completely dry by 2055, two years earlier than initially estimated.

The National Pension Service’s committee on pension-related financial estimates issued the grim outlook on Friday, confirming a tentative assessment it had unveiled earlier in January.

The committee said that the existing pension system will see more revenue than expenditure for the next 17 years or so under the current structure.

It forecast that funds will peak at around one-point-75 quadrillion won in 2040 before drying up by 2055, two years sooner than the previous estimate issued in 2018.

The health and welfare ministry said it plans to create a committee of experts to examine the scientific analyses of the estimation model for the national pension fund, citing the model’s application as a basis for pension reform.

It noted that the latest outlook was based on Statistics Korea's population projection for 2021, pointing to a discrepancy between the current birth rate and the rate mentioned in the 2021 report.