South Korea data questions answered
The 15 questions people search most about South Korea's official figures, each answered from the body that publishes them, with a link to check the latest number yourself.
What is the population of South Korea?
South Korea's population is projected at 51,609,121 for 2026, down from 51,684,564 in 2025, according to the population projections of the Ministry of Data and Statistics (formerly Statistics Korea), as published in the Bank of Korea's Economic Statistics System (ECOS). The World Bank's World Development Indicators use the same 2025 figure.
These are mid-year estimates and projections of everyone resident in the country, including foreigners, built from the census and births, deaths and migration. They differ from the resident registration count kept by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, which counts registered Korean citizens and is updated monthly. The ministry's statistical database, KOSIS, holds the detailed projection tables by age and region.
What is the inflation rate in South Korea?
South Korea's consumer price index stood at 120.43 (2020 = 100) in September 2026, against 117.06 a year earlier, an annual rise of about 2.9%, calculated from the Ministry of Data and Statistics' CPI series in the Bank of Korea's ECOS database. On the same basis, inflation was about 3.1% in August 2026. The Bank of Korea's inflation target is 2.0%.
The CPI is published on the first working days of the following month by the Ministry of Data and Statistics, which also releases core measures excluding food and energy and a living-cost index of frequently bought items. Rounding of index levels can make a recalculated rate differ by 0.1 point from the official headline, so quote the ministry's release where possible. Full tables are on KOSIS.
What is the Bank of Korea base rate?
The Bank of Korea's Base Rate is 3.00%. The Monetary Policy Board raised it by 0.25 points from 2.75% at its meeting in late August 2026, after a rise from 2.50% in July, according to the Bank of Korea. The daily series in the Bank's ECOS database shows the new rate applying from 27 August 2026 and the previous change from 16 July.
The Base Rate is the policy rate the Bank uses for its seven-day repurchase operations, and it influences deposit, loan and bond rates. The Monetary Policy Board meets eight times a year to decide it, and the Bank publishes each decision with a statement and, later, the minutes. The inflation target it aims at is 2.0% consumer price inflation.
What is South Korea's GDP and is the economy growing?
South Korea's real GDP grew 0.6% in April to June 2026 from the previous quarter, seasonally adjusted, after 1.8% in January to March, according to the Bank of Korea's national accounts in its ECOS database. For 2025 as a whole, nominal GDP was 2,676.7 trillion won (US$1.88 trillion) and real growth was 1.1%.
The Bank of Korea, not the statistics ministry, compiles Korea's national accounts. It publishes an advance estimate of quarterly GDP soon after each quarter ends and a preliminary estimate later, so quarterly figures are revised. Korean headlines usually quote the quarter-on-quarter change, while many other countries quote annual or annualised rates; check which one a claim uses before comparing.
What is South Korea's GDP per capita?
South Korea's GDP per person was US$36,414 in 2025, according to the Bank of Korea's annual national accounts in ECOS. Gross national income per person was 52.57 million won. The World Bank's World Development Indicators give US$36,227 for the same year.
Dollar figures depend on the exchange rate: a weaker won lowers per-person income in dollars even when it rises in won, so compare like with like. The World Bank uses its own population series and exchange-rate conversion, which accounts for the small gap. For cross-country comparisons of living standards, purchasing-power-parity figures are more suitable than market-rate dollars.
What is the won to dollar exchange rate?
The won-dollar base rate was 1,335.8 won per US dollar on 13 October 2026, down from 1,358.5 on 6 October, according to the Bank of Korea's ECOS database. A lower number means a stronger won.
The base rate (매매기준율) is calculated from the previous day's interbank trades in Seoul and is used as a reference by banks, which then set their own buying and selling rates for customers with a margin. South Korea has a floating exchange rate, so the market rate changes during the day. ECOS publishes daily, monthly and annual series for the dollar and other major currencies, including the yen per 100 and the yuan, which can be downloaded.
What is the minimum wage in South Korea?
South Korea's minimum wage for 2026 is 10,320 won an hour, 290 won more than in 2025, according to the Minimum Wage Commission. For a 40-hour week that is 2,156,880 won a month, a figure based on 209 paid hours including paid weekly rest. For 2027, the Commission's proposed rate announced on 15 July 2026 is 10,700 won an hour.
One national rate applies to all industries and regions. The Commission, made up of worker, employer and public-interest members, proposes the rate each summer and the Minister of Employment and Labor announces it, normally by early August; it takes effect on 1 January. The monthly figure assumes paid weekly holiday allowance, which is why it uses 209 rather than 174 hours.
What is the average salary in South Korea?
Workers in South Korean businesses with at least one employee earned an average of 4,316,189 won a month in July 2026, including bonuses and overtime, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor's monthly establishment survey of labour force, as published in the Bank of Korea's ECOS database. Regular (permanent) workers averaged 4,633,402 won. For 2025, the monthly average across all workers was 4,205,162 won.
Monthly pay swings with bonus months, so compare the same month across years or use annual averages. From 2026 the survey uses the 11th Korean Standard Industrial Classification, so comparisons with earlier years need care. The figure is a mean, pulled up by high earners; the Ministry of Data and Statistics publishes separate earnings statistics, including medians, from administrative records.
How much is South Korea's national debt?
South Korea's general government gross debt was 52.4% of GDP in 2025, according to the IMF's World Economic Outlook database, read on 13 October 2026, up from 49.6% in 2024.
Korean domestic debates usually quote 'national debt' (국가채무) as defined by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which covers central and local government debt that must be repaid from taxes and is reported in the annual budget and settlement documents; it differs from the IMF's general government measure and from the wider figure that includes non-profit public institutions. When a claim gives a won amount or a ratio, check which definition it uses. The ministry's figures are published on its website.
What is the poverty rate in South Korea?
South Korea's relative poverty rate was 15.3% in 2024, up from 14.9% in 2023, based on disposable income, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics' income distribution indicators from the Survey of Household Finances and Living Conditions, as published in the Bank of Korea's ECOS database. Median equivalised disposable income was 39.32 million won a year.
The rate counts people living in households with less than half of median income, adjusted for household size. It is a relative measure of low income, not of material deprivation. The same survey publishes rates by age group, including for older people, so check which group a claim refers to. Detailed tables are on KOSIS.
What is the life expectancy in South Korea?
Life expectancy at birth in South Korea was 83.6 years in 2024, according to the World Bank's World Development Indicators, updated on 8 October 2026, up from 83.4 years in 2023.
The national source is the Ministry of Data and Statistics' annual life tables, published on KOSIS with separate figures for men and women and by age. The World Bank series combines national data and UN estimates, so it can differ slightly from the ministry's own figure. Life expectancy is a period measure based on one year's death rates, not a prediction for people born that year.
What is the birth rate in South Korea?
South Korea's total fertility rate was 0.799 children per woman in 2025, up from 0.748 in 2024, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics' birth statistics as published in the Bank of Korea's ECOS database. It is the second year of increase after the low of 0.72 recorded for 2023 in the World Bank's World Development Indicators.
The total fertility rate estimates how many children a woman would have over her life at current age-specific birth rates; about 2.1 keeps a population stable without migration. The ministry usually publishes provisional annual figures in February and final figures in late summer, and monthly births in its population trends release. The 2025 figure here may be the provisional one, so check for revisions.
What is the unemployment rate in South Korea?
South Korea's unemployment rate was 2.7% in August 2026 on a seasonally adjusted basis, and 2.0% unadjusted, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics' Economically Active Population Survey, as published in the Bank of Korea's ECOS database. In July the rates were 2.8% and 2.6%.
The survey follows the International Labour Organization definition: people without work who looked for a job in the past four weeks and could start. Students preparing for exams and discouraged workers are counted as outside the labour force, so the employment rate (63.3% in July, unadjusted) is a useful companion figure. Results are released in the middle of the following month; full tables are on KOSIS.
Are house prices rising in South Korea?
Apartment prices in actual sales were about 5.4% higher across South Korea in July 2026 than a year earlier, and about 14.5% higher in Seoul, calculated from the Korea Real Estate Board's apartment real-transaction price index (June 2026 = 100) in the Bank of Korea's ECOS database. The national index was 100.8 in July 2026 against 95.6 in July 2025; for Seoul it was 101.9 against 89.0.
The Korea Real Estate Board publishes this index from registered sales, with a lag of a few months, and a separate survey-based weekly price index. Jeonse (lump-sum deposit) and monthly rent indices are published separately. Regional differences are large, so a national figure says little about any one city.
What share of South Korea's population is aged 65 and over?
People aged 65 and over make up a projected 21.6% of South Korea's population in 2026, up from 20.3% in 2025, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics' population projections, as published in the Bank of Korea's ECOS database.
The projections combine the latest census-based population with assumptions about fertility, life expectancy and migration, and the ministry reissues them every few years, so long-range figures change between editions. Shares based on the resident registration count of Korean citizens, published monthly by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, can differ because they exclude foreign residents. Detailed projections by single year of age are on KOSIS.
Source guides
- Ministry of Data and Statistics (formerly Statistics Korea) and KOSIS
- Bank of Korea and the Economic Statistics System (ECOS)
- National Law Information Center and the Official Gazette
- DART electronic disclosure system (Financial Supervisory Service)
Questions were chosen from the searches people make most about this country's figures, and each answer was written from the official page it links to, read on 14 October 2026. These answers give no verdict on any claim. To report an error, send a correction request.