Economy of South Korea
Economy of South Korea
Currency
South Korean Won (W)
Fiscal year
Calendar year
Trade
organizations
APEC, WTO and OECD
Statistics [1]
GDP ranking
13th (nominal) (2007); 13th
(PPP) (2008);
GDP
(Nominal)
$981.9 billion (2007)
GDP (PPP)
$1.342 trillion (2008)
GDP growth
5.1% (2007)
GDP per capita $27,646 (2008)
GDP by sector agriculture (3.0%), industry
(39.4%), services (57.6%) (2007
est.)
Inflation
2.5% (2007 est.)
Pop below
poverty line
2% (2006 est.)
Labour force
23.99 million (2007 est.)
Labour force
by occupation
agriculture (7.5%), industry
(17.3%), services (75.2%) (2007
est.)
Unemployment 3.2% (2007 est.)
Main
industries
electronics, automobile produc-
tion, chemicals, shipbuilding,
steel, textiles, clothing, footwear,
food processing
Trading Partners [2]
Exports
$371.8 billion (2007)[3]
Main Export
Partners
the People’s Republic of China
22.0%, U.S. 12.5%, Japan 7.1%,
Hong Kong 5.0% (2007)
Imports
$35.8 billion (2007)[4]
Main Import
Partners
The People’s Republic of China
17.7%, Japan 16.0%, U.S. 10.7%,
Saudi Arabia 5.9%, UAE 4.2%
(2006)
Public finances [5]
Public debt
33.4% of GDP (2007)
External debt
$3.7 billion (2007)
Foreign credit $308.7 billion (2005)
Reserves of
foreign
exchange
$264.3 billion (March 2008) [6]
Revenues
$269.7 billion (2007)
Expenditures
$256.6 billion (2007)
Economic aid ODA, $745 million (2005)
The economy of South Korea is a highly de-
veloped[7] trillion dollar free-market economy
that is the fourth largest in Asia and 13th
largest in the world. South Korea’s overnight
transformation to a wealthy developed coun-
try in less than half a century is often called
the Miracle on the Han River and earned the
distinctive reputation of "Asian Tiger" in the
international community.
Today, South Korea is classified as a high
income economy by the World Bank and an
advanced economy by the IMF and CIA. Its
capital, Seoul, is a major global city and a
leading
international
financial centre
in
Asia.[8] South Koreans enjoy one of the
highest living standards in the world