The Korea Herald

소아쌤

[Graphic News] Quality of life hurt by economic slowdown: report

By Korea Herald

Published : Nov. 20, 2016 - 18:09

    • Link copied



The quality of life for South Koreans ranks 47th in the world, as the country’s economic conditions are undercut by long working hours and unemployment, a local report said Friday.

The annual report from the Institute for International Trade, a research arm of the Korea International Trade Association, said South Korea scored 4.95 on a scale of 1 to 10 in quality of life in 2015. The score placed South Korea 47th, down seven notches from the previous year. IIT releases the report annually based on some 170 economic, trade and social indices. The number of countries being compared vary by category.

The United States scored 8.26 to rank 18th, and Japan came in No. 20 with 8.11 points. South Korea was behind China’s 5.26, which gave it 45th place. Switzerland topped the ranking with 9.83 points.

In terms of gross domestic product, South Korea’s $27,195 put the country in 32nd place. But the ranking was hurt by its low growth, labor intensiveness and unemployment rate.