South Korea Inflation Rate

Last Release

Jun 30, 2025

Actual

2.2

Units In

1.9

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Aug 04, 2025

Time to Release

1 Months 2 Days 1 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
32.5 Oct 1980	-0.4 Sep 2019	6.77 %	1966-2025	Statistics Korea

In South Korea, the most important categories in the consumer price index are Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (17 percent of total weight) and Food and non-alcoholic beverages (13.6 percent of total weight). Others include Restaurants and hotels (12 percent); Education (11.4 percent); Transportation (10.9 percent); Health (7.3 percent); and Clothing and footwear (6.2 percent). The components with the least weight are Communication at 5.8 percent; Miscellaneous goods and services at 5.4 percent; Recreation and culture at 5.3 percent; Furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance at 3.8 percent; and Alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 1.24 percent.

Latest Updates

South Korea’s consumer prices rose 2.2% year-on-year in June 2025, up from a 1.9% increase in May and slightly above market expectations of a 2.1% rise. This marks the highest annual inflation rate since January, when inflation also stood at 2.2%. The sharpest price increases were recorded in furnishings, household equipment and routine maintenance (4.4%), miscellaneous goods and services (4.4%), food and non-alcoholic beverages (3.4%), restaurants and hotels (3.0%), and education (2.8%). The inflation uptick comes as the Bank of Korea cut its policy rate by 25 basis points in May to support the economy amid rising US tariffs. This marked the central bank’s fourth rate cut since October 2024, delivering a total of 100 basis points of easing in the current cycle. On a monthly basis, consumer prices were unchanged in June, in line with market expectations.