South Korea's per capita income, in terms of U.S. dollar value, saw the sharpest drop in ten years last year.

According to the Bank of Korea on Tuesday, the country's gross national income(GNI) per capita amounted to 32-thousand-47 U.S. dollars in 2019, or down four-point-one percent from 2018.  

The drop is the sharpest to be posted since 2009 when the figure slipped by more than ten percent. The last time the nation’s per capita income witnessed a decline was in 2015. 

Meanwhile, the central bank said last year saw economic growth of two percent, or the same as an earlier forecast. That’s higher than the one-point-one percent growth in nominal gross domestic product(GDP).  

The bank said the decrease in GNI per capita last year happened when the Korean won weakened as the nominal GDP growth stood lower than real GDP growth.  

South Korea's per capita income surpassed 30-thousand dollars back in 2017.