S. Korea’s global GDP ranking slips to 10th place: data

South Korea’s global GDP ranking slipped to 10th place last year, the first drop since the 2008 global financial crisis, data showed Wednesday. 

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the country’s nominal GDP stood at $1.64 trillion in 2019 ranking No. 10 out of 38 OECD member countries, two rungs down from 2018. Asia’s fourth-largest economy was outpaced by Canada and Russia last year, which ranked eighth and ninth, respectively. 

Nominal GDP, a measure of economic output within a country to track its economic growth, refers to the market value of all final goods and services produced in an economy during a specific period. 

Experts say last year’s low nominal growth rate dragged down Korea’s GDP rank. The country’s nominal growth rate came to 1.4 percent, the third-lowest among 47 countries analyzed by the OECD. Amid the global financial crisis in 2008, Korea’s standing tumbled to 14th from 12th, officials said. 

The United States remained as the world’s largest economy with a nominal GDP of $21.43 trillion, followed by China, which marked $14.34 trillion. Japan came third with $5.08 trillion, followed by Germany ($3.85 trillion), Britain ($2.83 trillion) and France ($2.71 trillion).

Meanwhile, the data showed that Korea’s per capita GDP dropped to $31,682 in 2019 from $33,340 a year ago, but its ranking stayed the same at No. 22 among 35 major economies. 

By Choi Jae-hee (cjh@heraldcorp.com)