South Korea's national debt in relation to GDP 1997-2027

In 2023, South Korea's national debt accounted for approximately 46.9 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), which was a slight increase from about 45.9 percent in the previous year. The debt-to-GDP ratio of South Korea has been slowly but steadily increasing over the years. With the implementation of emergency relief funds and increased government spending during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, it was expected that the debt ratio would continue to grow in the future.