Key Points
South Korea's per capita GDP rises 1.28% to $36,024
Economy grows at 6.9% annual rate since 1954
Outperforms regional neighbors Japan and Taiwan
The GDP per capita for 2024 is estimated at $36,024, up $454, or 1.28 percent, from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Bank of Korea and Statistics Korea.
The 2024 tally is higher than those of Japan and Taiwan, which stand at $32,859 and $33,234, respectively, according to estimates from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), reports Yonhap news agency.
South Korea's per capita GDP was calculated based on a nominal growth rate of 5.9 percent from the nominal GDP of 2.4 quadrillion won ($1.65 trillion) in 2023 and the average won-dollar exchange rate of 1,363.98 won last year.
South Korea's total population in 2024 was estimated at 51.75 million.
For this year, the country's per capita GDP is forecast to rise above the $37,000 threshold if it meets the growth forecast.
Seoul logged a per capita GDP of over $30,000 for the first time in 2016 and hit the highest mark of $37,503 in 2021 before dropping to $34,810 the following year.
Meanwhile, South Korea's economy grew at an annualised rate of nearly 7 per cent after a change in the base year for economic growth data compilation, central bank data showed.
According to the data from the Bank of Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy expanded at an average 6.9 percent per year from 1954 to last year under the new base year of 2020, up from a 6.8 percent advance under the previous base year of 2015.
The data also showed that the nominal gross domestic product (GDP) stood at 2,401 trillion won in 2023, sharply up from 47.7 billion won in 1953, with per capita gross national income spiking to US$36,194 from a meagre $6.7 over the cited period.
