Income Inequality Soars: Top 10% Earn 76 Times More Than Bottom 10%

According to a survey, the gap between the top 10% and the bottom 10% of total income is 76 times.

The weekly report “Numbers” No. 229 from the Ministry Data Research Institute on February 27th presented a survey result titled “Polarization of Total Income.” Below are the survey results.

Polarization of Total Income

1. The gap between the top 10% and the bottom 10% of total income is 76 times

The office of Kyung Sook Yang, a member of the National Assembly Planning and Finance Committee, recently announced the “1,000th percentile data of total income,” which includes not only the labor income of our citizens but also the business and financial income. As of 2022, the average income per citizen was around $34,000, with the top 10% earning around $136,500 and the bottom 10% earning around $1,700.

[yarpp]

The income gap between the top and bottom 10% shows a severe polarization phenomenon, with a whopping 76-fold difference.

From 2018 to 2022, the income of the top 10% grew by 16.3%, while the income of the bottom 10% grew only by 0.5%, indicating the worsening gap between the two groups.

2. Annual income of the top 0.1% of total income is $1.5 million

So, how much is the average income of the top 0.1% of total income, and what is its proportion? As of 2022, the average income of the top 0.1% was about $1.5 million per person, with a monthly average of around $125,000. The total income from the top 0.1% accounted for 4.5% of the total income.