Income share of the poorest 20% — all countries

Income share of the poorest 20% — South Korea

Income share of the poorest 20% in South Korea in 2021 — 7.4%. Ranked 38 in the world out of 81. Since 2006, the indicator has risen by 0.1 pp.

2021 7.4% −0.1 pp vs 2020
World rank 38of 81
Period maximum 7.5%2014
Period minimum 6.5%2016

Trend over time

2006–2021 · % of income

Income share of the poorest 20% — South Korea, 2006–20216.56.7577.257.52006200820102012201420162018202020212006: 7.3%2008: 7.2%2010: 7.3%2012: 7.3%2014: 7.5%2016: 6.5%2017: 6.6%2018: 7%2019: 7.2%2020: 7.5%2021: 7.4%
Change over the period: +0.1 pp Annual average: 0.01 pp
Income share of the poorest 20% — South Korea, by year South Korea All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2021 7.4 −0.1 pp
2020 7.5 +0.3 pp
2019 7.2 +0.2 pp
2018 7 +0.4 pp
2017 6.6 +0.1 pp
2016 6.5
2014 7.5
2012 7.3
2010 7.3
2008 7.2
2006 7.3

Eastern Asia, 2021

The same indicator for neighboring countries — with links to their pages

CN China 7.4 KR South Korea 7.4

About the indicator

The share of total income or consumption that goes to the poorest twenty percent of the population. Under complete equality it would be twenty percent; in the most equal countries it comes to about nine, in the most unequal to about three. The indicator reads more plainly than the Gini index: instead of collapsing the whole distribution into a single number, it says outright how much goes to those who get the least.

Important: There are no aggregates for country groups: the top and bottom quintiles of a group are not a union of national quintiles, and they cannot be computed from country shares. The same reason as with the Gini index.

Source: World Development Indicators (World Bank), license CC BY 4.0.