Top 10% Earns 5.8 Times More Than Bottom 10%
Korea's household income gap is among the worst in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Statistics Korea disclosed an expanded annual income distribution index based on the results of a household financial welfare survey through the National Statistics Portal (http://kosis.kr) on April 11. The disposable income of the top 10 perent of the income distribution was 5.79 times larger than that of the bottom 10 percent in 2017, slightly worse than 5.73 times in 2016.
The OECD uses this ratio as a key indicator of national income inequality. The higher the ratio is, the more serious income inequality is.
Korea ranked 32nd among the 36 OECD member countries, with only four countries trailing it. They were Mexico (7.2 times), Chile (7 times), and the United States (6.3 times). Lithuania had the same household income gap of 5.8 times as Korea.