> In South Korea, a $20-a-month AI plan costs 1.6% of the median living standard, 2.0 times the share it takes in the United States; for 1% of people it is over a tenth of what they live on. Claude, OpenAI's API and Gemini are all officially offered. 98% of people use the internet, and Claude use per working-age person is 3.78 times the world average. [World](https://themodelindex.org/world/) / Asia AI access, cost and use · Eastern Asia · Asia · data read 1 Oct 2026 # South Korea In South Korea, a $20-a-month AI plan costs 1.6% of the median living standard, 2.0 times the share it takes in the United States; for 1% of people it is over a tenth of what they live on. Claude, OpenAI's API and Gemini are all officially offered. 98% of people use the internet, and Claude use per working-age person is 3.78 times the world average. 1.6% of the median living standard for a $20 plan Asia median 13% · United States 0.79% 1% of people for whom the plan is over a tenth of their living standard about 310k people 3of 3 leading services officially offered Claude · OpenAI · Gemini 98% of people use the internet world 74% · 52 m people ## The figures · South Korea People 52 m Median living standard $14,941a year per person · income A $20 plan takes 1.6%of that · 2.0× the US share For whom it is over a tenth 1%of people Survey 2021revalued at 2025 prices GNI per person $37,880plan is 0.63% of it Claude use per person 3.78×world average = 1 Notable AI models built here 2816 since 2023 ## Officially offered here · 3 of 3 [Run it yourself →](https://themodelindex.org/local/) Claude · claude.ai app Yes OpenAI · API Yes Gemini · web app Yes From each lab's own published list: Anthropic's Claude.ai countries, OpenAI's API countries and Google's Gemini web app countries. Not listed means not officially served; open-weight models can be run anywhere. ## Against Asia and the world · regional figures are medians or population-weighted | MEASURE | SOUTH KOREA | ASIA | WORLD | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | A $20 plan ÷ median living standard | 1.6% | 13% | 9.9% | | People for whom it is over a tenth | 1% | 72% | 63% | | Plan price ÷ GNI per person | 0.63% | 3.9% | 2.9% | | People using the internet | 98% | 76% | 74% | | Claude use per working-age person | 3.78× | 0.43× | 1.00× | | Notable AI models built | 28 | 283 | 1,256 | ## What it is used for · South Korea against the world [Report ↗](https://www.anthropic.com/research/economic-index-june-2026-report) South Korea Work 47% Personal 38% Coursework 15% The world Work 42% Personal 41% Coursework 17% Share of the world's Claude use 3.2%0.63% of the world's people Work 47%world 42% Personal 38%world 41% Coursework 15%world 17% Handed over to the model (automation) 44%world 48% Anthropic Economic Index, May 2026: Claude.ai conversations by country. One product from one lab, so read it as a signal of who is using frontier models, not a census. ## What people make with it · share of conversations Explanation or answer 18% Document or report 17% Analysis or summary 9% Advice or recommendation 8% The most common things people in South Korea ask Claude to produce. ## Neighbours · Eastern Asia · lightest burden first | COUNTRY | PEOPLE | ONLINE | $20 PLAN ÷ MEDIAN LIVING STANDARD | OVER A TENTH | CLAUDE USE PER PERSON | OFFICIAL LISTS | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | South Korea | 52 m | 98% | 1.6% | 1% | 3.78× | 3 of 3 | | [Japan](https://themodelindex.org/world/japan/) | 123 m | 86% | 1.9% | 3% | 1.91× | 3 of 3 | | [China](https://themodelindex.org/world/china/) | 1.41 bn | 92% | 8.8% | 42% | not reported | 0 of 3 | | [Mongolia](https://themodelindex.org/world/mongolia/) | 3.6 m | 85% | 14% | 72% | 1.37× | 3 of 3 | | [North Korea](https://themodelindex.org/world/north-korea/) | 27 m | 0% | no estimate | – | not reported | 0 of 3 | | [Hong Kong](https://themodelindex.org/world/hong-kong/) | 7.5 m | 96% | no estimate | – | not reported | 1 of 3 | | [Macao](https://themodelindex.org/world/macao/) | 686k | 90% | no estimate | – | not reported | 1 of 3 | [All countries →](https://themodelindex.org/world/) ## The foundations · South Korea against the world [World Bank ↗](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator) People using the internet 98% world 74% People with electricity 100% world 92% Mobile subscriptions per 100 people 173 world 112 Fixed broadband lines per 100 people 47.8 world 20.1 Enrolled in university-level education 112% world 44% Research spending, share of GDP 4.94% world 2.6% Researchers per million people 9,472 world 1,652 Secure internet servers per million people 11,902 world 16,381 The latest World Bank figure for each measure. The tick marks the world figure. A $20-a-month plan ($240 a year, US list price) against the median household living standard per person in each country. The median is from the latest national household survey (World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform), revalued from 2021 purchasing-power dollars into US dollars at recent prices and official exchange rates, assuming real living standards have not changed since the survey. Some surveys measure income and others consumption, which includes food people grow and housing they own, so this is a living standard, not cash to spare. Countries with no survey since 2015 or no defensible exchange rate are left blank. [World Bank household surveys ↗](https://pip.worldbank.org/) [Anthropic countries ↗](https://www.anthropic.com/supported-countries) [OpenAI countries ↗](https://platform.openai.com/docs/supported-countries) [Gemini countries ↗](https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/13575153) [Anthropic Economic Index ↗](https://www.anthropic.com/research/economic-index-june-2026-report) [Epoch AI notable models ↗](https://epoch.ai/data/notable-ai-models) --- Source: https://themodelindex.org/world/south-korea/ · The Model Index · data as of 2026-10-01