Seoul's Regional Gross Domestic Product 436 Trillion Won, 22% of National Total... Per Capita GRDP 45.12 Million Won, Up 1.45 Million Won

2019 Seoul Economy Size Grows 2.6%, 0.4 Percentage Points Higher Than National Growth Rate of 2.2%
Gangnam-gu Tops at 71.853 Trillion Won, 21.9 Times Larger Than Gangbuk-gu

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] In 2019, Seoul's Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) amounted to 435.927 trillion KRW, accounting for 22% of the national total, and the per capita GRDP was 45.12 million KRW, which is 7.85 million KRW higher than the national average. Additionally, the district with the largest GRDP in Seoul was Gangnam-gu, which was 21.9 times that of Gangbuk-gu.

On the 13th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced these findings through the Seoul Metropolitan Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) report, which comprehensively evaluates the production scale by district based on economic activities throughout 2019. GRDP is an indicator that evaluates all goods and services produced in Seoul at market value.

Seoul's economic growth rate in 2019 was 2.6%, which is 1.0 percentage point lower than the 2018 growth rate (3.6%) but 0.4 percentage points higher than the national economic growth rate (2.2%). By economic activity in Seoul, the service sector accounted for 92.0%, increasing by 0.1 percentage points from the previous year, while manufacturing accounted for 4.1%, showing a continued decrease in proportion. Health and social welfare services (9.8%) and finance and insurance (6.4%) grew, whereas mining (-9.8%) declined.

The per capita GRDP of Seoul citizens was 45.12 million KRW, an increase of 1.45 million KRW from the previous year. When converted using the standard exchange rate (1 USD = 1,166.11 KRW), the per capita GRDP was 38,691 USD, a decrease of 983 USD from the previous year, but it was 6,762 USD higher than the 2019 per capita Gross Domestic Product announced by the Bank of Korea (31,929 USD).

By district, Gangnam-gu had the largest GRDP at 71.853 trillion KRW, followed by Jung-gu (53.823 trillion KRW) and Yeongdeungpo-gu (36.095 trillion KRW). The district with the smallest scale was Gangbuk-gu, with 3.2836 trillion KRW. This means Gangnam-gu's economic scale is 21.9 times that of Gangbuk-gu. The growth rates compared to the previous year were highest in Jongno-gu (6.6%), Yeongdeungpo-gu (5.6%), and Jungnang-gu (4.9%), while the lowest growth rate was recorded in Gangseo-gu (-1.6%). Jongno-gu showed high growth in finance and insurance (27.9%) and health and social welfare (11.1%), Yeongdeungpo-gu in construction (29.8%) and finance and insurance (10.7%), and Jungnang-gu in construction (45.8%).

Per capita GRDP by district was highest in Jung-gu (417.48 million KRW), followed by Jongno-gu (218.7 million KRW) and Gangnam-gu (141.36 million KRW), with Dobong-gu being the lowest at 10.44 million KRW. Per capita GRDP tends to be higher in central urban areas with low residential populations and high business density and does not necessarily correspond to income levels.

By region, the Southeast area accounted for 147 trillion KRW, or 33.7% of Seoul's total GRDP, followed by the Southwest area (105 trillion KRW) and the Central area (100 trillion KRW). Looking at growth trends by region, the Northwest area had growth rates above 5% until 2013, the Southwest area recorded the highest growth rate (7.7%) in 2017, and the Southeast area showed the highest growth rate (3.0%) in 2019.

Park Jong-su, Director of Smart City Policy, explained, "GRDP statistics analyze production structures such as output, costs, and added value by industry and district, providing objective evidence to understand changes. They are particularly used in tax research, economic policy formulation, and academic research," adding, "It is expected that the utilization of these statistics will steadily increase in various fields, including competitiveness studies through regional comparisons and comparisons with overseas cities."