Korea's wealth gap hits record on surging assets of top earners

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Income and wealth disparities between top- and bottom-tier households widened further over the past year, pushing all major distribution indicators in a negative direction as net asset inequality reached its highest recorded level, the Ministry of Data and Statistics said Thursday.

In its 2025 Report on the Survey of Household Finances and Living Conditions, the ministry said that average household assets stood at 566.8 million won ($385,000) as of March, a 4.9 percent increase from a year earlier.

Average household debt rose 4.4 percent to 95.3 million won. As a result, average net assets, which reflect total assets minus liabilities, reached 471.4 million won, up 5 percent year-on-year.

By income group, households in the bottom 20 percent saw their net assets fall 4.9 percent, while all groups from the second quintile upward recorded gains.

The increases were especially pronounced among higher-income households, with net assets in the fourth and fifth quintiles rising 4.7 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively.

Households in the top 20 percent held 47.3 percent of the nation’s total net assets, up 1.3 percentage points from 46 percent a year earlier. The shares held by all other quintiles declined.

A more detailed breakdown showed the same trend. The wealthiest 10 percent increased their share of total net assets from 44.4 percent in 2024 to 46.1 percent this year, while the remaining nine deciles either fell or remained unchanged.

Consequently, the Gini coefficient for net assets, a key measure of wealth inequality, rose to 0.625, up 0.014 from the previous year. This is the highest level since statistics were first compiled in 2012.

A lower Gini value indicates a more equal distribution of wealth.

“The wealth gap widened because net assets continued to rise among higher-income households, while both the net asset level and growth rate fell for those in the bottom quintile,” said Kim Hyun-ki, head of the ministry’s welfare statistics division.

Distribution indicators based on disposable income also deteriorated.

The Gini coefficient for the working-age population, measured using equivalized disposable income, rose to 0.399 last year, up 0.002 from 0.397 a year earlier.

The income quintile ratio, which shows how many times the top 20 percent earn compared with the bottom 20 percent, rose to 5.78 last year, up from 5.72 a year earlier, an increase of 0.06 points.

"The downturn in distribution metrics largely reflects slower income growth among the lowest-earning households compared with those at the top,” Kim said. "Among households in the bottom quintile, especially those headed by people aged 39 or younger, employment growth slowed, and with private consumption weakening, gains in business and property income were relatively limited."