A state-run institute has attributed the increased centralization of the country to a productivity gap between the capital region and elsewhere that widened over a 15-year period.

According to a report released Tuesday by Kim Sun-ham, an associate fellow at the Korea Development Institute, the average productivity of cities in Seoul and the surrounding area was 101-point-four percent in 2005, as compared with 98-point-seven percent for other cities.

The productivity rate in the capital area jumped to 121-point-seven percent in 2019, while it stood at 110-point-six percent elsewhere, with the gap having widened from two-point-seven percentage points to eleven-point-one percentage points.

A region’s productivity indicates its capacity to supply more jobs and higher wages, and Kim pointed out that the proportion of the nation’s population living in the capital region rose from 47-point-four percent in 2005 to 49-point-eight percent in 2019.

The report called for a selective approach toward increasing productivity, recommending that the government concentrate its support on hub cities outside the Seoul area.