S. Korea records per-capita GNI of 36,000 dollars, surpassing Japan

South Korea exceeded Japan's gross national income (GNI) per capita for the first time last year due to its recovering export volumes, the revamped base year for stats, and the weaker Japanese yen against the South Korean won.

In a promising development, a preliminary study on GNI of the first quarter of 2024 as of the newly applied base year of 2020 released by the Bank of Korea (BOK) on Wednesday, revealed that South Korea's GNI per capita last year stood at 36,194 dollars. This marked a 2.7 percent increase from the previous year and a significant 7.3 percent increase from the pre-upgraded base year. Per-capita GNI, a leading indicator of the value of output per person, measures the total amount of money earned at home and abroad by a nation's people and businesses alike, which is divided by its population.

By contrast, Japan recorded 35,793 dollars in per-capita GNI last year, showing a decrease of 1.5 percent on a year-on-year basis. The BOK converted Japan’s GNI based on the current yen-dollar exchange rate from the value of money the Japanese government calculated in the Japanese yen. With the Japanese yen depreciating significantly, the nation’s GNI in the dollar has decreased accordingly, said the report.

The South Korean central bank estimated that the country ranked 6th in per-capita GNI as of last year, following the United States, Germany, Britain, France, and Italy – among countries with a larger population than 50 million. Choi Jeong-tae, head of the central bank’s national accounts coordination team, stated that the country lagged behind Italy, but outdid Taiwan and Japan in terms of GNI as of last year, adding that Japan ended up with a lower per-capita GNI than South Korea due to its weak currency.


이동훈 기자 dhlee@donga.com