SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's relative poverty ratio, which gauges the population living below a poverty line, fell in two years last year, joint government data showed Thursday.
The relative poverty ratio shed 0.2 percentage points over the year to 17.4 percent in 2017, according to joint data by Statistics Korea, Bank of Korea (BOK) and Financial Supervisory Service (FSS).
It indicated 17.4 percent of the country's total population living below the poverty line, which stood at 13.22 million won (11,700 U.S. dollars) of the median income last year.
The relative poverty ratio was the lowest since relevant data began to be compiled in 2011.
It came as the Moon Jae-in government pushed for a so-called income-led growth policy to narrow an income gap between the rich and the poor through policies such as minimum wage hikes.
The relative poverty ratio among those aged 18-65 fell 0.2 percentage points over the year to 12.7 percent in 2017, while the ratio for those aged 66 or higher dipped 1.2 percentage points to 43.8 percent.
The readings, however, were still higher than the average rate among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which stood at 11.8 percent.
Despite the improved poverty ratio, income disparity deepened between the wealthy and the poor.
Income of the top 20-percent income bracket was more than 7 times larger than the one for the lowest 20-percent bracket in 2017, up from 6.98 times the previous year.
Disposable income for the top 20 percent added 4.5 percent to 64.6 million won (57,200 U.S. dollars) last year, while the income for the lowest 20 percent rose 4.2 percent to 9.23 million won (8,200 U.S. dollars).
