Seoulites Spend 1.43 Million Won per Month on Average

A breakdown of consumption levels by district showed that the three districts (“gu”) in Gangnam had some of the highest levels of spending in the city. (image: Yonhap)

SEOUL, Jul. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — A new study has found that inhabitants of Seoul spend an average of 1.43 million won every month, and of the 25 districts in the South Korean capital, residents of Seocho-gu had the highest spending habits.

A breakdown of the population by workplace found that those who worked in the district of Jung-gu had the highest levels of consumption.

This is all according to the results of a big data analysis released by Shinhan Bank yesterday that investigated the spending habits of Seoulites.

The study was based on December 2017 data from 1.31 million of the bank’s individual clients. Of these individuals, 880,000 were income earners.

Apartment management fees, utility bills, phone bills and rental fees were some of the fixed costs that individuals spent money on, while medical bills and credit card bills were some of the categories of variable consumption.

The median value for monthly consumption by Seoul residents was 1.43 million won.

A breakdown of consumption levels by district showed that the three districts (“gu”) in Gangnam had some of the highest levels of spending in the city.

Seocho-gu residents spent the most on average, at 2.02 million won, followed by Gangnam-gu at 1.95 million won.

Yongsan-gu and Songpa-gu, while not situated in the Gangnam region of the city, also had high levels of consumption at 1.61 million won and 1.56 million won, respectively.

Within the district of Seocho-gu alone, residents of Banpo-dong had the highest spending power at 2.23 million won. In Gangnam-gu, Apgujeong-dong residents boasted the highest level of spending at 3.02 million won.

But the highest increase, on average, in spending growth over the last three years came from residents of Dongdaemun-gu, with a jump of 6.6 percent, followed by those of Yangcheon-gu and Gangbuk-gu, with increases of 6.5 percent and 6.1 percent, respectively.

People in their 40s spent the most at 1.88 million won on average per month, followed by those in their 50s (1.65 million won), 30s (1.63 million won), 60s (1.29 million won), 70s (930,000 won) and 20s (850,000 won).

H. S. Seo (hsseo@koreabizwire.com)