Last Year, Per Capita Gross National Income Surpassed $35,000 for the First Time

10.3% Increase Compared to 2020
Exchange Rate Decline Influences Economic Recovery

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] Last year, South Korea's per capita Gross National Income (GNI) surpassed $35,000 for the first time. This was due to economic recovery from COVID-19 and a decline in the won-dollar exchange rate.

According to the '2021 Q4 and Annual National Income (Provisional)' statistics released by the Bank of Korea on the 3rd, last year's per capita GNI was $35,168, a 10.3% increase from $31,881 in 2020. Per capita national income is calculated by dividing the total income earned by citizens domestically and abroad during a year by the population, serving as a key indicator of the standard of living.

South Korea's per capita GNI first entered the $30,000 range in 2017 at $31,734. It then reached a record high of $33,564 in 2018 but declined for two consecutive years due to the impact of COVID-19, recording $32,204 in 2019 and $31,881 in 2020.

Choi Jeong-tae, Director of the Bank of Korea's National Accounts Department, explained, "The rebound in per capita national income after three years is because three indicators?economic growth rate, inflation, and the value of the won?all increased significantly compared to the previous year."

Real GNI grew by 3.5%, which was lower than the GDP growth rate of 4%. Although real net income from abroad increased, the scale of real trade losses expanded due to worsening terms of trade. The GDP deflator, which reflects overall price levels in the economy, rose by 2.3%, marking the highest level in six years since 2015 when it recorded 3.2%. The GDP deflator is calculated by dividing nominal GDP by real GDP.

The provisional annual real GDP growth rate for last year was 4.0%, the same as the preliminary figure released in January, representing the highest growth rate in 11 years since 2010 (6.8%). In the fourth quarter alone, the economy grew by 1.2% quarter-on-quarter, an upward revision of 0.1 percentage points from the preliminary estimate of 1.1%. The Bank of Korea stated, "This revision reflects upward adjustments in the service sector and goods exports compared to the time of the preliminary announcement."

Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, posted on his social media that "the most notable point is that per capita GNI exceeded $35,000 just four years after surpassing $30,000 in 2017," adding, "Considering that two of those four years were during the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis, this is a remarkable achievement."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.