31st Country with More Than $30,000 GNI
This year, South Korea is expected to become the world’s 31st country recording a GNI per capita of at least US$30,000.
According to the World Bank, 30 countries exceeded US$30,000 in GNI per capita until 2016. Monaco did so in 1977, Liechtenstein in 1987, and Switzerland in 1988. Britain, France, Austria and Belgium did so in the early 2000s. Spain and Cyprus did so once before falling back.
South Korea is likely to swell the ranks this year given that its economy is expected to show a 3% growth, its inflation estimate is 1.7%, and its foreign exchange rates are expected to be close to last year’s. South Korea broke the US$20,000 mark back in 2006 by reaching US$20,795.
The interval of 12 years is relatively longer than those of the other countries. According to the Bank of Korea, the interval is 10.1 years on average when it comes to countries with a GNI per capita of at least US$20,000 and a population of at least 20 million. Among those countries, both Japan and Germany took five years to reach US$30,000 from US$20,000. South Korea and Spain are currently the only two of them below US$30,000.
The Bank of Korea explained that those countries, with the exception of South Korea, reached US$30,000 before the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 and South Korea had to take two more years for the financial crisis. In 2008 and 2009, South Korea’s GNI per capita fell 11.2% and 10.6%, respectively.