Korea’s Gross National Income Ranked 13th Last Year

Gross national income fell for the second straight year last year to 13th in the world, down from 12th in 2006.

Gross domestic product also ranked 13th, staying unchanged from two years ago.

The World Bank and the Bank of Korea announced yesterday that Korea’s nominal GNI was 955.82 billion dollars last year.

Russia rose two notches from 13th to 11th thanks to booming exports of oil and natural gas.

Korea’s rank in nominal GNI fell from 11th (766.9 billion dollars) in 2005 to 12th (856.6 billion dollars) in 2006.

GNI per capita, however, rose to 49th from 51st to post 19,690 U.S. dollars last year.

The World Bank said Liechtenstein was first and Bermuda second in GNI per capita, but did not release the figures. Norway was third with 76,450 dollars and Luxembourg fourth with 75,880 dollars.

The U.S. figure was 46,040 dollars, good for 15th.

In Asia, Korea lagged behind Japan with 37,670 dollars (25th); Singapore with 32,470 dollars (31st); and Hong Kong with 31,610 dollars (33rd).

Korea’s nominal GDP ranked remained at 13th last year at 969.795 billion dollars. The country was overtaken by Brazil and fell from 11th to 12th in 2005 and fell to 13th in 2006 after Russia rose to 12th.

parky@donga.com