New data reveals sharp increase in newborns receiving asset gifts
Published: 04 Sep. 2025, 13:38
Updated: 04 Sep. 2025, 17:17
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
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Out of the some 238,300 babies who were born last year, 734 were born with gold spoons in their mouths as they were gifted an average of 91.41 million won ($65,570) in assets as soon as they were born, totaling 67.1 billion won.
Rep. Park Sung-hoon of the People Power Party (PPP), a member of the Strategy and Finance Committee of the National Assembly, disclosed this information on Thursday from data based on regular tax filings.
This marked an increase of 98 cases and 5.6 billion won compared to 2023, when 636 newborns were gifted 61.5 billion won.
The value of gifts to newborns was 9.1 billion won in 2020 but surged to 80.6 billion won in 2021 amid rising property prices. It climbed further to 82.5 billion won in 2022 before dipping to 61.5 billion won in 2023, only to rise again last year.
By asset type, financial assets accounted for the largest share of gifts to newborns in 2024, with 554 cases totaling 39 billion won, an increase of 102 cases and 10.1 billion won compared to the previous year.
Securities followed with 156 cases worth 18.6 billion won. Land was gifted in 20 cases, worth 2.6 billion won, and buildings in 12 cases, also worth 2.6 billion won.
Across all minors under 18, a total of 14,217 gifts were reported last year, amounting to 1.2382 trillion won. That amounts to an average of 87.09 million won per minor. The number of cases increased slightly by 123 from the previous year, though the total value decreased by 342.1 billion won compared to 2023.
By age group, 16- to 18-year-olds received the largest average gifts. At age 16, the average value of gifts was 147.19 million won — the highest among all minors — followed by age 17 at 110.63 million won and age 18 at 110.11 million won. Twelve- and 13-year-olds also received large gifts, averaging 94.46 million won and 94.18 million won, respectively. Newborns ranked just below them.
“The tax authorities need to carefully examine cases of manipulative or unfair gifting and tax evasion,” Park said. “Authorities must respond firmly to attempts to pass down wealth without proper tax burdens, through proactive audits and post-transaction monitoring.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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