Nearly 2 out of 10 Korean households in deficit

[Photo by MK DB]

Nearly two out of 10 households in South Korea were in the red last year, with income mostly going to debt financing. According to Korea Institute of Finance on Sunday, 3.54 million households or 17.2% of the country’s entire 20.52 million were in deficit last year. Out of an annual average of 46 million won ($36,051) earning, 45 million won went to pay back the principal and interest for debts, 24 million won for essential consumption, and 9 million won for non-living expenditure. Debt payment accounted for 98% of total ordinary income. Households with high loan-to-income ratio took up 61.5% of entire deficit households whose average debt stood quadruple the size of others at 400 million won.

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