South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, Statistics Korea, and the Bank of Korea revealed that the country’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) declined last year for the first time in three years, remaining just above 36,000 USD.
According to South Korean news agency Yonhap on Sunday, South Korea’s per capita GDP stood at 36,107 USD last year, down 0.3% (116 USD) from the previous year — marking the first decline in three years.
South Korea’s per capita GDP surpassed 30,000 USD in 2016, recording 30,839 USD, and rose to 35,359 USD in 2018. However, it dropped for two consecutive years to 33,652 USD in 2020 due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It then climbed to 37,503 USD in 2021, before falling to 34,810 USD in 2022, and later rebounding to 35,682 USD and 36,223 USD in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
According to official South Korean sources, the main reason for last year’s decline was the sharp depreciation of the South Korean won. The won’s average exchange rate reached 1,422.16 won per USD in domestic trading in 2025 — the lowest annual average on record. The previous record low was 1,398.39 won in 1998 during the Asian financial crisis.
Another factor behind the decline was the estimated real GDP growth rate of just 1% last year — the lowest since 2020.
The government added that if the economy achieves the expected growth rate this year, per capita GDP will return to 37,000 USD for the first time in five years.