Economy - overview:
South Korea over the past four decades has demonstrated incredible growth and global integration to become a high-tech industrialized economy. In the 1960s, GDP per capita was comparable with levels in the poorer countries of Africa and Asia. In 2004, South Korea joined the trillion dollar club of world economies, and currently is among the world's 20 largest economies. Initially, a system of close government and business ties, including directed credit and import restrictions, made this success possible. The government promoted the import of raw materials and technology at the expense of consumer goods, and encouraged savings and investment over consumption. The Asian financial crisis of 1997-98 exposed longstanding weaknesses in South Korea's development model including high debt/equity ratios and massive short-term foreign borrowing. GDP plunged by 6.9% in 1998, and then recovered by 9% in 1999-2000. Korea adopted numerous economic reforms following the crisis, including greater openness to foreign investment and imports. Growth moderated to about 4-5% annually between 2003 and 2007. With the global economic downturn in late 2008, South Korean GDP growth slowed to 0.2% in 2009. In the third quarter of 2009, the economy began to recover, in large part due to export growth, low interest rates, and an expansionary fiscal policy, and growth was estimated to be 3.9% in 2011. In 2011, the US-South Korea Free Trade Agreement was ratified by both governments and is projected to go into effect in early 2012. The South Korean economy's long term challenges include a rapidly aging population, inflexible labor market, and heavy reliance on exports - which comprise half of GDP.
GDP (purchasing power parity): GDP (official exchange rate): GDP - real growth rate: GDP - per capita (PPP): GDP - composition by sector: Labor force: Labor force - by occupation: Unemployment rate: Population below poverty line: Household income or consumption by percentage share: Distribution of family income - Gini index: Investment (gross fixed): Budget: Taxes and other revenues: Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-): Public debt: Inflation rate (consumer prices): Central bank discount rate: Commercial bank prime lending rate: Stock of narrow money: Stock of broad money: Stock of domestic credit: Market value of publicly traded shares: Agriculture - products: Industries: Industrial production growth rate: Electricity - production: Electricity - consumption: Electricity - exports: Electricity - imports: Oil - production: Oil - consumption: Oil - exports: Oil - imports: Natural gas - production: Natural gas - consumption: Natural gas - exports: Natural gas - imports: Natural gas - proved reserves: Current account balance: Exports: Exports - commodities: Exports - partners: Imports: Imports - commodities: Imports - partners: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: Debt - external: Stock of direct foreign investment - at home: Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad: Exchange rates:
NOTE: 1) The information regarding Korea, South on this page is re-published from the 2012 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Korea, South Economy 2012 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Korea, South Economy 2012 should be addressed to the CIA.
$1.554 trillion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 13
note: data are in 2011 US dollars
[see also: GDP country ranks ]
$1.164 trillion (2011 est.)
[see also: GDP (official exchange rate) country ranks ]
3.9% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 103
[see also: GDP - real growth rate country ranks ]
$31,700 (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 40
note: data are in 2011 US dollars
[see also: GDP - per capita country ranks ]
agriculture: 3%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - agriculture country ranks ]
industry: 39.4%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - industry country ranks ]
services: 57.6% (2008 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - services country ranks ]
25.09 million (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 25
[see also: Labor force country ranks ]
agriculture: 7%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - agriculture country ranks ]
industry: 23.6%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - industry country ranks ]
services: 69.4% (2011 est.)
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - services country ranks ]
3.4% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 30
[see also: Unemployment rate country ranks ]
15% (2006 est.)
[see also: Population below poverty line country ranks ]
lowest 10%: 2.7%
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - lowest 10% country ranks ]
highest 10%: 24.2% (2007)
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - highest 10% country ranks ]
31 (2010)
country comparison to the world: 111
[see also: Distribution of family income - Gini index country ranks ]
27.4% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 48
[see also: Investment (gross fixed) country ranks ]
revenues: $267.9 billion
[see also: Budget revenues country ranks ]
expenditures: $242 billion (2011 est.)
[see also: Budget expenditures country ranks ]
23% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 131
[see also: Taxes and other revenues country ranks ]
2.2% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 22
[see also: Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) country ranks ]
22.9% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 107
[see also: Public debt country ranks ]
4.2% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 101
[see also: Inflation rate (consumer prices) country ranks ]
1.5% (31 December 2011)
country comparison to the world: 130
[see also: Central bank discount rate country ranks ]
5.9% (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 151
[see also: Commercial bank prime lending rate country ranks ]
$377 billion (31 December 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 15
[see also: Stock of narrow money country ranks ]
$1.346 trillion (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 14
[see also: Stock of broad money country ranks ]
$1.14 trillion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 16
[see also: Stock of domestic credit country ranks ]
$1.066 trillion (31 October 2011)
country comparison to the world: 14
[see also: Market value of publicly traded shares country ranks ]
rice, root crops, barley, vegetables, fruit; cattle, pigs, chickens, milk, eggs; fish
electronics, telecommunications, automobile production, chemicals, shipbuilding, steel
7.4% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 33
[see also: Industrial production growth rate country ranks ]
417.3 billion kWh (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 11
[see also: Electricity - production country ranks ]
402 billion kWh (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 11
[see also: Electricity - consumption country ranks ]
0 kWh (2010)
[see also: Electricity - exports country ranks ]
0 kWh (2010)
[see also: Electricity - imports country ranks ]
48,400 bbl/day (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 63
[see also: Oil - production country ranks ]
2.251 million bbl/day (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 9
[see also: Oil - consumption country ranks ]
907,100 bbl/day
country comparison to the world: 22
note: exports consist of oil derivatives (gasoline, light oil, and diesel), not crude oil (2009 est.)
[see also: Oil - exports country ranks ]
3.1 million bbl/day (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 5
[see also: Oil - imports country ranks ]
542 million cu m (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 68
[see also: Natural gas - production country ranks ]
42.69 billion cu m (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 22
[see also: Natural gas - consumption country ranks ]
0 cu m (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 127
[see also: Natural gas - exports country ranks ]
43.58 billion cu m (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 8
[see also: Natural gas - imports country ranks ]
50 billion cu m (1 January 2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 65
[see also: Natural gas - proved reserves country ranks ]
$22.1 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 19
[see also: Current account balance country ranks ]
$558.8 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 8
[see also: Exports country ranks ]
semiconductors, wireless telecommunications equipment, motor vehicles, computers, steel, ships, petrochemicals
China 27.9%, US 10.2%, Japan 5.8% (2010)
$525.2 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 9
[see also: Imports country ranks ]
machinery, electronics and electronic equipment, oil, steel, transport equipment, organic chemicals, plastics
China 17.9%, Japan 16.2%, US 10.1%, Saudi Arabia 5.2%, Australia 4.9% (2010)
$320.1 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 8
[see also: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold country ranks ]
$397.3 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 27
[see also: Debt - external country ranks ]
$130.3 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 29
[see also: Stock of direct foreign investment - at home country ranks ]
$139 billion (31 December 2010)
country comparison to the world: 23
[see also: Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad country ranks ]
South Korean won (KRW) per US dollar -
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order
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This page was last modified 07-Mar-12