The profit growth rate for South Korea's self-employed businesses fell to a six-year low last year.

According to data by the Bank of Korea and Statistics Korea on Sunday, profit growth by relatively small, self-employed businesses came to one percent last year from a year earlier.

This is the lowest since 2011 when it posted seven-tenths of a percent.

The growth figure, which marked two-point-nine percent in 2013, stayed around the two percent mark until 2016, but posted a sharp drop last year.

The drop is attributed to a decrease in domestic consumption and a plunge in the number of Chinese tourists due to the diplomatic row between Seoul and Beijing.