South Korea's per capita gross national income is expected to top $40,000 for the first time this year, 12 years after crossing the $30,000 mark in 2014. A semiconductor export boom combined with a stronger won could bring the milestone forward by two years from the 2028 timeline originally projected.
"With nominal GNI up 21.8% in the first half of this year, the likelihood that per capita GNI will exceed $40,000 this year has become very high, provided there is no major shock in the second half and the exchange rate remains stable," the Bank of Korea said at a briefing on second-quarter national income on the 8th. GNI measures the income earned by a country's residents over a given period.
Korea's GNI is rising along two broad channels this year. The semiconductor boom is lifting corporate income, as expanding global artificial intelligence investment drives up both chip prices and export volumes. Corporate gross operating surplus surged 48.2% in the second quarter from a year earlier, the largest increase since 2010.
Nominal gross domestic product rose 26.4% from a year earlier as a result, the fastest growth in 46 years and nine months, or since the third quarter of 1979. Nominal GNI also grew 26.4% year-on-year in the second quarter.
The won's recent strength has added to the effect. The won-dollar exchange rate has fallen to the 1,330 range, down nearly 220 won from two months earlier.
Attention is also turning to whether the income gap with neighboring Japan and Taiwan will narrow. Korea's per capita GNI was $36,963 last year, trailing Japan's $38,220. Taiwan had already passed the $40,000 mark, at $40,626 last year.
