Economic Trivia

South Korea is the most industrialized OECD country.

Trade Source: United Nations Comtrade
Note: Top 3 trade partners are calculated by imports + exports.

Top 3 Trade Partners (2021): China, United States, and Japan
Top 3 Exported Goods (2021): Electrical Machinery, Industrial Machinery, and Motor Vehicles & Parts

Top Industries Source: CIA World Factbook

Electronics; Telecommunications; Automobile Production; Chemicals

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) [1]

GDP, PPP (current international) $2,585,010,700,035 (2022)
GDP Growth Rate (annual %) 2.561% (2022)
GDP Per Capita, PPP (current international) $50,070 (2022)
Click on a row to display its 5-year graph on the right.

GDP Country Rank 14/197 (2022)

GDP Composition %

Note: GDP composition percentage may exceed 100. Manufacturing is included in the Industry figures and is also reported separately because it plays a critical role in many economies.

Economic Indicators [1]

Inflation, consumer prices (annual %) 5.088% (2022)
External debt stocks, total (DOD, current US$) Data unavailable
Total tax rate (% of commercial profits) 33.2% (2019)
Real Interest Rate (5 year average %) 3.038% (2022)
Manufacturing, value added (% of GDP) 25.628% (2022)
Current Account Balance (BoP, current US$) $29,830,900,000 (2022)
Click on a row to display its 5-year graph on the right.

Labor and Employment [1]

Labor Force, Total 29,203,428 (2022)
Employment in Agriculture (% of total employment) 5.347% (2021)
Employment in Industry (% of total employment) 24.604% (2021)
Employment in Services (% of total employment) 70.049% (2021)
Unemployment Rate 2.788% (2022)
Click on a row to display its 5-year graph on the right.

Trade [1]

Imports of goods and services (current US$) $808,086,022,393 (2022)
Exports of goods and services (current US$) $803,589,592,034 (2022)
Total Merchandise Trade (% of GDP) 84.97% (2022)
FDI, net inflows (BoP, current US$) $17,996,000,000 (2022)
Commercial Service Exports (current US$) $129,476,100,000 (2022)
Click on a row to display its 5-year graph on the right.

Economic Snapshot [1]

Note: Percentile ranks are calculated using the latest available data for all countries within the last 5 years.

How to interpret the graph: The purpose of this graph is to take a snapshot of a country’s economy in comparison to other economies. For example, South Korea’s Exports rank is higher than (please wait...) of the countries in the dataset. For Exports, FDI and GDP measures, a higher rank (closer to 100%) indicates a stronger economy. Conversely, for Unemployment and Inflation, a lower rank (closer to 0%) indicates a stronger economy.

Due to unavailable data the following indicators have been omitted:
  • Exports
  • FDI, net inflows
  • GDP Growth Rate
  • GDP Per Capita
  • Inflation
  • Unemployment

Sources

  1. The World Bank