Korea's per capita gross national income stood at US$22,489 last year, placing the nation 13th among countries with a population of more than 10 million.

According to the Bank of Korea last Friday, Korea's per capita GNI last year was at an all-time high and up about 9.3 percent from $20,562 a year earlier.

But the growth rate of real GNI hit a three-year low. This means that real purchasing power did not increase significantly because consumer prices rose correspondingly.

Last year's real GNI grew by a mere 1.5 percent from the previous year, the lowest since 2008, the year of the global financial crisis, when it shrank 0.6 percent. Real GNI grew 5.6 percent in 2010.