30% of South Korea's Population Own Land... 18.51 Million Landowners

As of the end of 2021, Land Ownership Reaches 18.51 Million, an Increase of 450,000 Compared to 2020

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Kim] It has been revealed that 3 out of 10 people residing in South Korea own land.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 4th that as of the end of 2021, 18.51 million people, accounting for 64.1% of the total population of 51.64 million in South Korea, owned land. This is a 2.5% increase compared to 18.05 million in 2020.

Looking at the status of land ownership, land owned by individuals accounted for the largest area at 46,445㎢, followed by corporations with 7,087㎢, and non-corporate entities with 7,783㎢.

The area of land owned by individuals increased by 0.1% from 46,398㎢ in 2020 to 46,445㎢, with agricultural and forest areas accounting for the highest proportion at 48.5%, or 22,525㎢.

The area of land owned by corporations increased by 1.7% from 6,965㎢ in 2020 to 7,087㎢, with agricultural, forest, and management areas accounting for 58.6%, more than half of the total.

The area of land owned by non-corporate entities increased by 0.4% from 7,754㎢ in 2020 to 7,783㎢, with agricultural and forest areas accounting for 56.5%, and green areas, management areas, and agricultural and forest areas together accounting for 90.3%.

By land category, individuals owned 26,813㎢ (57.7%) of forest land, 16,077㎢ (34.6%) of farmland including rice paddies, fields, orchards, and pasture land, and 2,549㎢ (5.5%) of residential land.

By age group, those in their 60s owned the most land at 29.6%, followed by those in their 50s at 22.7%, and those in their 70s at 19.3%. The ownership ratio of people in their 60s and those aged 80 and above is increasing, while it is gradually decreasing for those under 50.

Looking at land ownership by household, out of the total 23.47 million households in South Korea, 14.49 million households, or 61.7%, owned land. This is an increase of 0.5 percentage points compared to last year.

The land transaction turnover rate nationwide was 2.6% based on area. By city and province, Sejong recorded 5.1%, Gyeonggi 5.0%, and Chungnam 3.8%, indicating active land transactions, while Seoul showed the lowest turnover rate nationwide at 1.0%.

Statistics on land ownership status will be available for public viewing from the 5th on the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Statistics Nuri and the Statistics Korea National Statistics Portal.

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