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Household income sees record-high growth in 2023

Published: 09 Dec. 2024, 18:04

A street in Myeong-dong, central Seoul, on Sept. 30 [YONHAP]

Korea's household income advanced by the largest margin ever last year on the back of increasing wages and business income, data showed Monday.

The yearly average income per household stood at 71.85 million won ($50,076) in 2023, up 6.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea and the Bank of Korea, marking the sharpest on-year gain since the agency began compiling relevant data in 2011.

Income earned through wages increased 5.6 percent on year to an average of 46.37 million won last year.

Average income from business operations climbed 5.5 percent to 12.72 million won, and property income soared 28.1 percent to 5.59 million won in 2023, the data showed.

Meanwhile, the average debt of Korean households fell for the first time ever over the past year due mainly to structural changes that aided the growth of their net assets.

Each household owed an average of 91.28 million won to banks and other financial companies as of the end of March, down 0.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data.

The number of single-person households and households comprised of older adults, which had relatively less debt, markedly increased.

The average Korean household held 540.22 million won worth of assets as of the end of March, up 2.5 percent from a year earlier.

Their net assets also rose 3.1 percent on year to reach 448.94 million won. Financial assets grew 6.3 percent on year to 133.78 million won, and property and other tangible assets climbed 1.3 percent to 406.44 million won.

Households in Sejong had the largest amount of assets, averaging 766.63 million won. Those in Seoul followed, averaging 761.73 million won, and the surrounding province of Gyeonggi 669.45 million won, the data showed.

Yonhap