South Korea is not prosperous. They are #28 (worse than Spain) for GDP at PPP.
“South Korea is not prosperous. They are #28 (worse than Spain) for GDP at PPP.”
I forgot I meant per capita too.
They're in the top 6th among the world's economies, so I'd say that's reasonably prosperous, especially when you consider that unlike the US, Norway or Australia, the country has no natural resources to speak of, and 50 years ago, had a GDP per capita 2/3 of Zambia's, and 2/5 of Spain's. Note that in 1945, only 22% of South Koreans were literate. The last time this level of literacy existed in Spain was during the mid-19th century.