South Korea’s nominal gross domestic product (GDP) ranking slipped to 10th last year, marking its first slide since the 2008 global financial crisis.

Korea’s nominal GDP last year totaled $1.64 trillion, finishing 10th among 38 OECD member countries, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Wednesday.

Asia’s fourth-largest economy had ranked eighth in 2018. It was replaced by Canada at eighth and followed by Russia at ninth.

Nominal GDP is the market value of all goods and services produced in a country calculated at the current market price. Real GDP is also a measure of a country’s economic output but adjusted for price changes. While real GDP is used to measure economic growth, nominal GDP is used to compare the size of different economies.

The last time Korea experienced a drop in nominal GDP was in 2008, when it slid from 12th to 14th. It had since inched upward every year.

Korea’s nominal growth rate in 2019 was 1.4 percent, the third-lowest among 47 countries studied by the OECD.

The U.S. retained its title as the world’s largest economy with a nominal GDP of $21.4 trillion last year, trailed by China with $14.3 trillion. Japan came third with $5.08 trillion, followed by Germany ($3.85 trillion), Britain ($2.83 trillion), France ($2.71 trillion) and Italy ($2 trillion).

Korea’s nominal GDP per capita dropped to $31,682 in 2019 from $33,340 a year ago. But its ranking remained the same at 22nd as other major economies also took a fall.

By Kim Hyo-jin

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