Signal Korea's income inequality stays above the OECD while wealth concentration hit a record in March 2025

Summary

The strategy reports that Korea's disposable income Gini coefficient was 0.323 in 2023, higher than the OECD figure of 0.307. Income distribution worsened sharply in the late 1990s and improved somewhat after the 2010s as welfare spending expanded, but inequality remains high by the standards of major OECD countries. The asset gap has widened since the mid-2010s, and the net asset Gini coefficient in March 2025 was the highest since the statistic began. Public social spending rose from 4.2 percent of GDP in 2000 to 7.4 percent in 2010, 14.9 percent in 2020 and a preliminary 15.3 percent in 2024. Taxes and transfers reduced the Gini coefficient by 17.6 percent in 2023, well below the 35.2 percent average across 24 OECD countries.