Top 1% Own at Least W3.3 Billion in Assets Each

The wealthiest one percent of Koreans own net assets worth at least W3.28 billion (US$1=W1,304).

According to Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the cutoff point for the top one percent rose by around W400 million from 2021.

In a survey of 17,900 households, the average assets of the top 187 stood at W5.37 billion. Some W4.37 billion or 81 percent of that was real estate, compared to 74 percent among all households.

In terms of financial assets alone, the top one percent owned W900 million while their debts averaged W517 million.

Their average annual income was W216 million, 3.4 times more than the average across all income groups of W63 million.

Wages accounted for W93 million, while W73 million came from stock dividends or interest earnings and W40 million from their own businesses.