OBJECTIVES: Little is known about variations in resource use and cost of stroke among patients experiencing stroke at different age.  Recent observation of getting younger among stroke patients in Korea raises a concern on the loss of labor forces.  Thus, this study was conducted to compare per-person lifetime cost of stroke according to the age of stroke onset from the Korea societal perspective. METHODS: The cost for fatal stroke was measured as one-time cost.  The cost for non-fatal stroke was estimated as a lifetime cost using Markov cohort simulation. Then, weighted average cost was calculated based on the proportion of fatal or non-fatal stroke among Korean population.  Transition probabilities were derived from published sources. Average cost for fatal stroke and 1st- and 2nd –year of non-fatal stroke was estimated from the National Health Insurance claims records. RESULTS: The lifetime economic impact of stroke is 10.6~ 4.5 times higher for men aged 45 or 55 (196.6~83.7 million Korean won) than those 65 (8.2 million KW).  Women experiencing stroke at 45 or 55 (69.5 or 38.1 million KW) showed 3.2~1.8 times higher lifetime cost than women at 65 (21.1 million KW). While stroke from those aged 45~64 accounted for only 20% of incidence, the total national lifetime costs of stroke was explained by 72% from this age group. CONCLUSIONS: Higher lifetime burden and increasing incidence of stroke among younger population in Korea suggests that more effective strategy targeting young population should be adopted to prevent stroke incidence in the nation.