South Korea is among the few Asian countries showing signs of slower growth due to rising inequality, according to a study by the Asian Development Bank Institute.

Twelve countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Korea, China and Indonesia, have experienced growing income inequality between 1990 and 2010, according to the report.

The study, entitled “Rising Inequality in Asia and Policy Implications,” released in February, is based on the countries’ Gini coefficient between 1990 and 2010.

The Gini coefficient is a common measure of inequality in which a number closer to zero represents less-severe income inequality while a score of 100 implies total inequality.

According to the study, the Gini coefficient in Korea rose from 24.5 to 28.9 at an average annual pace of 0.9 percentage points during the period, meaning that the country’s income disparity worsened at the fifth-highest rate in the region.

China saw the greatest increase in inequality during the period, followed by Indonesia and Laos. Between 1990 and 2010, the Gini coefficient leaped from 32 to 43 in China, at an average annual pace of 1.6 percentage points, it said.

Asia has made great strides in reducing poverty, but widening income inequality undermines that success, the study said.

Citing a recent ADB report, ADBI said that if inequality had remained stable in the Asian economies where it increased, the same volume of growth in 1990-2010 would have taken about 240 million more people out of poverty.

The report said technological progress, market-oriented reform and globalization have contributed to the rapid growth of many Asian economies. But, it added, such drivers of growth have also led to rising income inequality.

The study advised Asian policymakers to “redouble efforts” to generate more productive jobs and equalize opportunities in employment, education and health.

“Without such growth-enhancing policies, Asia may be pulled into inefficient populist policies that benefit neither growth nor equity,” the report said.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)