Asia's Inequality

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) report analyzed income inequalities in Asia, based on data provided by 22 countries

The report showed that that the top ten percent of income earners in South Korea accounted for 45 percent of the nation's entire income distribution as of 2013, the highest among Asian countries surveyed.

Singapore followed in second with its top ten percent bracket behind 42 percent of the country's total. Japan’s highest ten percent made up 41 percent.  

While the comparative figures for New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia were 32, 31 and 22 percent, respectively.

In 1995, South Korea's top ten percent earned 29 percent of the total income distribution. The 2013 figure was 16 percentage points higher. During the same period, other Asian countries saw similar tallies grow only by one to two percentage points. South Korea’s most recent tally hints at rising inequality attributed to rapid aging, large wage gaps for regular and non-regular workers and gender occupational inequality.