(image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, April 5 (Korea Bizwire) — The COVID-19 pandemic has dampened overall consumption in South Korea, but spending on insurance has been an exception, a report showed.
Domestic households’ monthly insurance expenditures averaged 84,000 won (US$69.15) in 2019 but rose to 89,000 won in 2020 and 92,000 won in 2021, according to a report from the Korea Insurance Research Institute.
As a share of households’ disposable income, spending on insurance rose from 2.49 percent in 2019 to 2.53 percent in 2021.
In particular, the share of insurance expenditure in consumption spending rose to 3.69 percent in 2021 from 3.43 percent in 2019.
The report stressed that household consumption was affected more significantly than household income due to the impact of the pandemic, but household spending on insurance remained strong.
By income level, the share of insurance expenditures in overall income and consumption rose for low-income groups but declined for the middle-income group.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
