Latest reading: Consumer prices were up 2.4% on a year-on-year basis in November, following a 2.5% rise in the prior...
Inflation in Korea
The Republic of Korea maintained moderate inflation rates over the last decade, averaging around 2%. Inflation was notably below this threshold in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic, and surged in 2021 and 2022 on economic recovery, supply constraints and high commodity prices. That said, inflation in 2022 was still below the OECD average. Inflation came down in 2023 and 2024 thanks to the lagged impact of successive rate hikes by the Central Bank.
In the year 2024, the inflation in Korea was 2.32%, compared to 1.27% in 2014 and 3.60% in 2023. It averaged 1.89% over the last decade. For more inflation information, visit our dedicated page.
Korea Inflation Chart
Note: This chart displays Inflation Rate (CPI, annual variation in %) for Korea from 2014 to 2025.
Source: Macrobond.
Korea Inflation Data
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inflation (CPI, ann. var. %, aop) | 0.5 | 2.5 | 5.1 | 3.6 | 2.3 |
| Inflation (CPI, ann. var. %, eop) | 0.6 | 3.7 | 5.0 | 3.2 | 1.9 |
| Inflation (Core, ann. var. %, aop) | 0.4 | 1.4 | 3.6 | 3.4 | 2.2 |
| Inflation (PPI, ann. var. %, aop) | -0.5 | 6.4 | 8.4 | 1.6 | 1.7 |
Inflation above target for the third month in November
Latest reading: Consumer prices rose 2.4% on a year-on-year basis in November, unchanged from the previous month's reading. November's reading was the strongest since July 2024 and remained above the Bank of Korea 2.0% inflation target for the third consecutive month. Relative to the prior month's figures, there were higher price pressures for food and non-alcoholic beverages (+4.7% in annual terms vs +3.5% in October) and clothing and footwear (+2.3% vs +2.1% in October). In contrast, there were milder price pressures for transportation (+3.2% vs +3.4% in October) and recreation and culture (+1.4% vs +2.1% in October). Finally, the variation in housing and utilities prices was the same as in the prior month (+1.2% in November and October). Meanwhile, core consumer prices were up 2.0% in annual terms in November, following a 2.2% increase in the previous month. Lastly, consumer prices were down 0.19% in November on a month-on-month basis, following a 0.31% rise in the prior month.
Panelist insight: Commenting on the outlook, Jeong Woo Park, analyst at Nomura, stated: “With the recovery in domestic demand and the weaker KRW pushing import prices higher, which is feeding into domestic food and oil prices, we raise our 2026 inflation forecast.”
Consensus Forecasts and Projections for the next ten years
How should you choose a forecaster if some are too optimistic while others are too pessimistic? FocusEconomics collects Korean inflation projections for the next ten years from a panel of 32 analysts at the leading national, regional and global forecast institutions. These projections are then validated by our in-house team of economists and data analysts and averaged to provide one Consensus Forecast you can rely on for each indicator. By averaging all forecasts, upside and downside forecasting errors tend to cancel each other out, leading to the most reliable inflation forecast available for Korean inflation.
Download one of our sample reports to visualize what a Consensus Forecast is and see our Korean inflation projections.
Want to get access to the full dataset of Korean inflation forecasts? Send an email to info@focus-economics.com.
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