SoKor, Taiwan Expected To Surpass Japan In GDP Per Capita In 2027, 2028

Japan's gross domestic product per capita will fall behind that of South Korea in 2027 and Taiwan in 2028, according to a recent projection by a Tokyo-based research institute, citing long-term low productivity on the back of slow progress in digitalization of the world's third-largest economy, Mainichi Shimbun reported.

Photo Insert: The Seoul skyline at sunset

The inflation-unadjusted nominal GDP, the total value of goods and services produced in the nation, per person is projected at $46,519 in South Korea in 2027 and $47,305 in Taiwan in 2028, compared to the $45,607 and $46,443 forecast for Japan in the respective years, according to estimates released last month by the Japan Center for Economic Research (JCER).

"The biggest obstacle for Japan's economic growth is its low birthrate and aging population, but South Korea and Taiwan are in much the same case on that point, so the difference comes from their productivity and efforts for digitalization," said Atsushi Tomiyama, a principal economist at the research institute.

Japan's growth rate from 2021 through 2035 is forecast at 2.0 percent on average each year, lower than the 4.1 percent for South Korea and 4.2 percent for Taiwan, according to the projection that covered 15 Asian nations along with the United States, Canada, and Australia.

GDP per capita, an indicator of individual wealth, in 2020 came to $39,890 in Japan, $31,954 in South Korea, and $28,054 in Taiwan, the research body also told Kyodo News.

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