South Korea's per capita income rose over ten percent last year to surpass 35-thousand dollars on the back of economic recovery and the local currency's appreciation against the U.S. dollar.

According to tentative data by the Bank of Korea on Thursday, the country's gross national income(GNI) per capita came to 35-thousand-168 U.S. dollars in 2021, up ten-point-three percent from a year earlier.

The GNI per capita is a nation's total income earned at home and abroad divided by its total population, and is widely considered an indicator of living standards.

The rise in the GNI per capita marks the first in three years as the nation slowly recovers from the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase was also bolstered as the local currency appreciated roughly three percent against the dollar last year.

Meanwhile, the nation's real gross domestic product(GDP) increased one-point-two percent on-quarter in the fourth quarter of last year, zero-point-one percentage point higher than the advance estimate.

The growth rate for the entire year was tallied at four percent, as was previously estimated.

Exports expanded five percent on-year in the fourth quarter, while private consumption increased one-point-six percent in the cited period.