Borrowers with household loans are carrying debt close to an average of 100 million won per person. In particular, borrowers in their 40s had an average loan exceeding 120 million won.
According to data the Bank of Korea submitted on the 28th to Rep. Park Seong-hoon of the People Power Party, who sits on the National Assembly's Strategy and Finance Committee, the average household loan balance per borrower in the second quarter of this year was 96.6 million won. This is the highest since the related statistics were compiled in 2012.
The total number of borrowers fell from 19,721,000 in the second quarter of last year to 19,708,000 in the second quarter of this year. However, the loan balance increased from 1,859.3 trillion won to 1,903.7 trillion won, raising the average balance per person. The per-capita loan balance has increased for eight consecutive quarters since the second quarter of 2023 (93.32 million won).
The total loan balance topped 1,900 trillion won for the first time in the second quarter of this year. Five years earlier, it rose from 1,692.3 trillion won in the second quarter of 2020 to 1,700 trillion won in the third quarter of that year, and then surpassed 1,800 trillion won in the second quarter of 2021. More recently, it has increased for five straight quarters since the first quarter of last year (185.28 billion won).
By age group, the per-capita household loan balance for borrowers in their 40s reached 121 million won in the second quarter of this year, the highest on record. Those in their 30s and younger (84.5 million won) also hit a record high. With borrowers in their 30s and 40s driving the increase in household loans in the first half of this year, per-capita borrowing appears to have risen sharply.
For those in their 50s, the per-capita average was 99.2 million won. It is the highest level in two years and six months since the fourth quarter of 2022 (99.4 million won). For those 60 and older, the figure fell from 85.9 million won in the fourth quarter of last year to 85.6 million won in the first quarter of this year, then rose to 85.8 million won in the second quarter.
Among older adults, the increase in vulnerable borrowers stood out. In the second quarter of this year, the number of vulnerable borrowers aged 60 and older rose by 13,000 from the previous quarter (236,000) to 249,000, the highest on record. Vulnerable borrowers in their 50s also reached an all-time high at 323,000. By contrast, those in their 30s and younger held steady from the previous quarter at 446,000, while those in their 40s inched down to 365,000.
A vulnerable borrower refers to a person who is both a multiple debtor with loans from three or more financial institutions and either a low-income earner in the bottom 30% by income or a low-credit borrower with a credit score of 664 or lower.
Rep. Park Seong-hoon said, "Household debt is a structural fuse that threatens the entire national economy," adding, "The government needs to quickly put in place a practical safety net for financially vulnerable groups."