Starting a business - Score in South Korea
South Korea: Starting a business - Score was 93.36 in 2019. ▲ Rising
Starting a business - Score in South Korea, 2003–2019
Source: World Bank.
Analysis
South Korea recorded 93.36 for starting a business - score in 2019. That is the highest value across all 17 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 10.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, starting a business - score in South Korea peaked at 93.36 in 2019 and was at its lowest, 58.59, in 2003.
That places South Korea 33rd out of 191 countries with data for 2019, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 17 years of available data.
Starting a business - Score in South Korea, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 58.59 | — |
| 2004 | 59.9 | +2.2% |
| 2005 | 61.36 | +2.4% |
| 2006 | 61.61 | +0.4% |
| 2007 | 61.99 | +0.6% |
| 2008 | 63.7 | +2.8% |
| 2009 | 84.47 | +32.6% |
| 2010 | 84.48 | +0.0% |
| 2011 | 88.69 | +5.0% |
| 2012 | 91.88 | +3.6% |
| 2013 | 91.88 | +0.0% |
| 2014 | 91.89 | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 91.89 | +0.0% |
| 2016 | 93.35 | +1.6% |
| 2017 | 93.35 | +0.0% |
| 2018 | 93.36 | +0.0% |
| 2019 | 93.36 | +0.0% |
South Korea compared with similar countries
- South Korea's 93.36 is above the median for high income countries, which is 91.07, 1.0× the median. (62 countries reporting)
- South Korea's 93.36 is above the median for East Asia & Pacific, which is 86.39, 1.1× the median. (28 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Starting a business - Score in South Korea changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | +32.6% | 63.7 | 84.47 |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 64.52 | 58.59 | 84.47 | 7 |
| 2010s | 91.41 | 84.48 | 93.36 | 10 |
Countries ranked near South Korea
More private sector data for South Korea
- Merchandise trade 71.6% (2025)
- Food imports 6.3% (2024)
- Manufactures imports 60.1% (2024)
- Merchandise imports 631.89 billion current US$ (2025)
- Food exports 1.6% (2024)
- Manufactures exports 87.3% (2024)
- Merchandise exports 709.33 billion current US$ (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per capita 13,724 current US$ per person (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per unit of GDP 0.3788 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), annual growth rate 3.76 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is starting a business - score in South Korea?
- Starting a business - score in South Korea was 93.36 in 2019, according to the World Bank.
- What is the highest starting a business - score recorded in South Korea?
- The highest recorded value was 93.36 in 2019.
- What is the lowest starting a business - score recorded in South Korea?
- The lowest recorded value was 58.59 in 2003.
- How does South Korea rank for starting a business - score?
- South Korea ranks 33rd out of 191 countries with data for 2019.
- Is starting a business - score rising or falling in South Korea?
- Over the last ten years it is up 10.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this South Korea data come from?
- The figures come from the World Bank, published as part of Starting a business - Score. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 17 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
The score for starting a business is the simple average of the scores for each of the component indicators: the procedures, time and cost for an entrepreneur to start and formally operate a business, as well as the paid-in minimum capital requirement.