Signal Income and wealth gaps widened and vulnerable households came under more strain

Summary

The government reports that the ratio of top to bottom quintile income rose from 6.20 in the first quarter of 2022 to 6.32 in the first quarter of 2025. The net asset Gini coefficient also increased from 0.606 in 2022 to 0.612 in 2024. Income in the lowest quintile fell by 1.5 percent in the first quarter of 2025 compared with a year earlier. Korea's elderly poverty rate of 39.7 percent in 2022 is the highest in the OECD. The delinquency rate of vulnerable borrowers climbed from 7.2 percent in 2022 to 9.9 percent in 2024.