SEOUL, KOREA - Korea's middle class is large enough to be comparable to those in major industrialized countries. But most middle-class families believe their lot has deteriorated. A study said this is largely psychological as most Korean middle class populations feel they are relatively worse off than high-income families.

 

The state-run think tank Korea Development Institute said this in a research report "An Analysis on the Status of Middle Class Population" published on April 24. Yoon Hee-sook, KDI senior research fellow and the principal author of the report, said, "Even though the current administration set the goal of increasing the share of middle-class population to 70 percent of the total, it is at a loss as to how to diagnose the current situation. The statistics tell the level of Korea's middle class population is still high compared to major economies."

 

For example, she said, according to the Luxembourg Income Study that provides international comparative statistics on disposable incomes, Korea's middle class population ratio is 56.0 percent, ranking third out of 15 top nations following Denmark and Sweden. That implies it is hard to conclude that Korea's middle class has collapsed for the past few years based on numbers alone.

 

Yoon said, "The pressure felt by the middle class is largely psychological because incomes of some job categories are rising fast while their incomes are perceived to stagnate."