Ben at Jeonnam Life dug up an interesting Wikipedia page that ranks Korea's cities and provinces according to GNP and GDP, and pair them with another country of comparable figures.
In terms of GDP, Jeonnam ranks 7th out of 16 administrative divisions, putting it close to Ecuador. Gwangju is 15th, similar to Ethiopia. Ranked according to per capita GDP, Jeonnam is 3rd---pretty much because of Gwangyang's POSCO---making it comparable to Greece. Gwangju is 15th, making it comparable to Poland. Interesting numbers, especially since I've frequently heard how Jeollanam-do is the poorest region of Korea.
I was going to put together a really interesting post by finding a US state that would compare to Jeollanam-do and Gwangju, but if Jeonnam were a state it would rank as the third-poorest, just above West Virginia and Mississippi. Ulsan, the region with the highest GDP per capita in Korea, would rank 7th. Don't be too quick to jump at the numbers, though, and the apparent poverty of Jeollanam-do; West Virginia and much of Appalachia is mired in destitution and distress to an extent that I'm embarrassed there are so many poor so close to home.
Jeollanam-do does have an advantage in that it has a relatively small population, and is relatively small, which seems to me would make it easier to keep things like schools and roads in good shape compared to what I've seen in some places back home. If Jeollanam-do were a state it'd have the 36th-largest population; 30th if you include Gwangju. However, Gwangju has a population density larger than any US state, as you'd expect and has a figure similar to several medium-sized US cities. Jeollanam-do would be 7th. Interestingly, Jeollanam-do---including Gwangju---is just a touch smaller than the state of Connecticut. South Korea as a whole is a little smaller than my home state of Pennsylvania, though it has nearly four times the population.
1 comment:
Wow, thanks for that. It seems Kwangju and Taegu are both about equally poor (which could explain some of the intensity of their rivalry). I'd always thought Taegu had done better thanks to its connection with past military regimes. Maybe its glory is also in the past.
Ulsan with the same per capita GDP (in 2007) as the United States? Wow! That blew me away.
My Seoul, I shall now call Seoulvenia.
West Virginia and much of Appalachia is mired in destitution and distress to an extent that I'm embarrassed there are so many poor so close to home.
Besides the poverty, another good comparison between West Virginia and rural South Korea: the excellent rural highway network.
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