Last Year, High Inflation Burden Was Greatest on 'Middle-Class Households'

Statistics Korea Announces '2021 and 2022 Consumer Price Index by Household Characteristics' Results

Last year, the burden of high inflation was most significant for middle-class households.

According to the '2021 and 2022 Consumer Price Index by Household Characteristics' released by Statistics Korea on the 2nd, the annual inflation rate for middle-class households, defined as those with median income at 60%, was calculated at 5.2% last year.

This figure is adjusted based on the expenditure proportions of each household from the overall inflation statistics surveyed for all households. Considering that the annual consumer price inflation rate last year was 5.1%, this means that the inflation burden for households at the 60% median income level was higher than the average for all households. The consumer price inflation rate for the bottom 20% income group was 5.1%, the same as the overall average, while the top 20% income group experienced a rate of 5.0%, lower than the overall average.

By age of the household head, those aged 60 and over bore the highest inflation burden. The inflation rate for households headed by someone aged 60 or older was 5.3%. This was followed by those aged 40?59 (5.1%) and those 39 and under (4.9%). Regarding inflation rates by household size, single-person households experienced a 4.8% increase, which is 0.3 percentage points (p) lower than the average (5.1%). Households with two or more members saw a higher increase of 5.1% compared to single-person households. Households with a working household head had an inflation rate of 5.0%, lower than the 5.2% rate for households without a working head.