Per-Capita Income Rises to US$30,000

Published on 2019/03/10 | Source

Korea's per-capita gross national income grew 5.4 percent on paper last year to reach US$31,349, the first time it broke the magical $30,000 barrier.

The development comes 12 years after per-capita GNI rose above $20,000.

On average, the leap took advanced countries 9.7 years. Japan and Germany did it in just five years and the U.S. and Australia in nine.

But the biggest reason was the dollar exchange rate rather than any actual growth in incomes as the Korean won strengthened 2.7 percent against the greenback last year.

In reality wage earners accounted for only 56 percent of that income. That means actual per-capita GNI stands at only W19.3 million, and the proportion of GNI household income accounts for has been declining steadily from 70 percent just before the 1997 Asian financial crisis (US$1=W1,127).