South Korea's income inequality has decreased over the past decade, but the relative poverty rate among the elderly population is among the highest among member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
On the 24th, the Statistics Korea published the report titled "Current Status of South Korea's SDG Implementation 2025." The SDG report analyzes the status of the 17 sustainable development goals in areas such as people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership.
South Korea has made progress in reducing income inequality, responding to health crises, producing new and renewable energy, and improving urban and residential environments over the past decade; however, more effort is needed in areas such as elderly poverty, gender equality, overcoming climate crisis, and conserving biodiversity.
According to the report, the relative poverty rate for disposable income in 2023 is 14.9%, falling from 18.5% in 2011 to 14.8% in 2021, then slightly rising to 14.9% in 2022 and remaining unchanged. By age, the relative poverty rate among those aged 66 and older is the highest at 39.8%, which is the highest level among OECD countries as of 2022.
The relative poverty rate is the proportion of the population whose income is less than half the median income. The Gini coefficient for disposable income in 2023 is 0.323, continuing to decline from 0.387 in 2011; however, the Gini coefficient for net worth has risen to 0.605 from 0.588 in 2018. This indicates that while income inequality has been alleviated, asset inequality has deepened. The Gini coefficient is an economic indicator of income inequality, where '0' indicates complete equality and '1' indicates complete inequality.
Gender equality indicators have also been identified as areas needing improvement. As of 2024, the proportion of female members of the National Assembly is 20.0%, showing a slight increase from 18.0% in 2012, but a decrease of 1.3 percentage points compared to 21.3% in 2020. This is the fourth lowest level among 38 OECD countries, significantly below the average of 34.1%.
In 2023, there were 168 cases of editing and distributing false videos and 970 cases of threats and coercion involving filmed materials, reflecting the rise of new forms of sexual violence against women and children due to the prevalence of smartphone and internet use. However, the arrest rates for digital sex crimes in 2023 were 48.2% for editing and distributing false videos and 61.4% for threats and coercion involving filmed materials, each dropping by 10.6 percentage points and 2.8 percentage points from the previous year.
The nutritional status of adolescents was inadequate, and their academic performance in mathematics was similar to the pre-pandemic level. In 2023, the rate of those lacking proper nutritional intake was 17.9%, an increase of 7.3 percentage points from 10.6% in 2011. Among adolescents aged 12 to 18, the rate of those lacking proper nutritional intake was particularly high at 27.5%. Individuals lacking proper nutrition are defined as those whose energy intake is less than 75% of the recommended intake, and whose intake of calcium, iron, vitamin A, and riboflavin is all below 75% of the recommended amounts. In 2022, the proportions of 15-year-olds achieving at least the minimum level of proficiency in reading and mathematics were reported at 85.3% and 83.8%, respectively, which is higher than the OECD averages of 73.7% for reading and 68.9% for mathematics and similar to levels before the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, South Korea's total greenhouse gas emissions amounted to 724.29 million tons, which is an increase of 0.37% compared to 721.64 million tons in 2011. South Korea had the fourth highest emissions among OECD countries after the United States, Japan, and Germany as of 2021.