Latest data has shown South Korean households posted a record surplus last year, despite financial struggles from the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Statistics Korea on Sunday, quarterly surplus rates of households nationwide ranged from 30-point-four to 32-point-nine percent in 2020.

The only other time the quarterly surplus rate exceeded 30 percent since the agency began compiling related data in 2003 was during the fourth quarter of 2016.

The surplus rate refers to the amount left after subtracting consumption and expenditures from household income.

The surplus gains reflect the government's COVID-19 relief program that raised household income, in tandem with households drastically reducing spending in a time of crisis. Social distancing rules amid the protracted pandemic were also said to have restricted household spending. 

In the first quarter, the average household monthly income stood at five-point-36 million won, up three-point-seven percent from a year earlier, while spending contracted four-point-nine percent to three-point-95 million won.