The improvement in the Gini coefficient between pre-tax market income and post-tax disposable income was 17.6 percent, placing Korea 28th among the 29 OECD countries with data. That is about half the OECD average, and the gap widens among older people.
As of 2023, the improvement rate between Korea's market-income Gini and its disposable-income Gini stood at 17.6 percent. That ranks 28th of the 29 OECD countries for which figures are compiled; only Costa Rica, at 12.1 percent, is lower.
광고 문의 · 300×250The OECD average is 34.4 percent. On this measure of how much inequality narrows after taxes and welfare, Korea reaches roughly half the average.
The gap widens with age
By age group, the improvement rate is 13.7 percent for those aged 18 to 65, ranking 27th, and 29.6 percent for those 66 and over, ranking 28th. The figure for older people is higher in absolute terms, but the distance from the OECD average is 11.1 percentage points for the younger group against 27.4 points for the older one.
Other countries sharply compress post-retirement income gaps through pensions and transfers aimed at the elderly. Korea's public pension system is still maturing, which analysts cite in explaining the comparatively small redistributive effect in that age band.
A long-standing pattern
The ranking has not deteriorated recently. Korea stood 23rd of 26 countries in 2011 and 31st of 33 in 2018, consistently in the lower tier. Even as the economy grew, the redistribution measure stayed close to where it was.
Fiscal scale and tax structure are both cited. The share of income-tax exempt filers, reliance on indirect taxes and the distribution of social insurance contributions all bear on the number. Which combination is desirable, however, involves value judgments, so no single conclusion emerges.
For Chinese households in Korea the measure is not somebody else's story. Families with a high share of self-employment see larger swings in market income, and where transfers cushion little, felt income moves sharply with the business cycle.
