SEOUL, October 27 (AJP) -Self-employed doctors earn nine times as much as the average wage earner in South Korea, suggesting why elite students favor medical degrees.
Doctors reporting business income earned an average of 402 million won ($303,000) in 2024, compared with average annual pay of 44.75 million won for wage earners, according to National Tax Service data submitted to Rep. Moon Jin-seok of the ruling Democratic Party.
Doctors’ median business income was 264 million won, pointing to substantial income disparities even within the profession.
The number of doctors reporting business income increased 17.7 percent to 43,718 in 2024 from 37,140 in 2017. Their combined business income climbed nearly 80 percent over the same period to 17.56 trillion won from 9.76 trillion won.
Dentists followed in the income ranking among professional profession with average business income of 222 million won, ahead of accountants at 122 million won, Korean medicine practitioners at 119 million won and lawyers at 106 million won.
Pharmacists and herbal pharmacists averaged 101 million won. Veterinarians reported 99 million won, followed by tax accountants at 82 million won, patent attorneys at 80 million won and customs brokers at 60 million won. Appraisers, judicial scriveners, architects and labor attorneys all reported averages below 40 million won.
The figures cover professionals reporting business income as individual taxpayers and do not represent everyone working in each profession. They exclude salaried doctors working solely as employees, as well as income reported through corporations.
Business income is calculated after deductible expenses such as employee wages and rent, while wage earners' annual pay is measured as gross salary before income tax. The two measures therefore provide an indication of the income gap but are not strictly comparable on a like-for-like basis.
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