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Agent Delegability Index · v2026.1 · by Balam Labs
KOR · High income · ILOSTAT 2025, ISCO-08 at one digit

Flag of South KoreaSouth Korea

In line with what its income predicts · expected 46.8% at its GDP per capita

47.6%
ADI · 30th of 146 · 95% interval 46.7–48.6

South Korea ranks 4 of 24 countries in East Asia and Pacific: 47.6% of its task time is at least partly delegable, above the world figure of 35.2% and 1.1 points below high-income countries.

IndicatorSouth KoreaRank in regionHighest in regionRegionHigh incomeWorldSource
Delegability
ADI: task time at least partly delegable (L2–L3)47.64 of 24Singapore (64.2)35.348.735.2ADI v2026.1
ADI3: task time fully delegable (L3)4.33 of 24Japan (5.0)3.03.72.5ADI v2026.1
ADIs: expected share of working time delegable37.24 of 24Singapore (45.5)29.937.429.5ADI v2026.1
Adoption
AI use per working-age adult (index)3.853 of 10Singapore (6.12)2.142.801.53Anthropic Economic Index
Context
GDP per capita, PPP (constant 2021 international $)55,6974 of 24Singapore (139,593)23,99956,34127,620World Bank WDI
Informal employment, % of total employment––Palau (7.3)55.312.550.2ILOSTAT

Region: the 24 countries of East Asia and Pacific in the atlas (World Bank regions). Delegability rows are employment-weighted means; adoption and context rows are simple means over countries with data. For informality, rank 1 is the lowest. With equal weights inside reported groups, the preregistered sensitivity check, South Korea’s ADI is 46.0%.

Where it sits

South Korea against the delegation divide

Each flag is a country; the dashed line is what GDP per capita alone predicts. East Asia and Pacific keeps its colours, the rest is grey. South Korea is in line with what its income predicts.

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South Korea and the other 145 countries: ADI against GDP per capita0102030405060$1k$2k$5k$10k$20k$50k$100kGDP per capita, PPP (log scale)ADI: task time at least partly delegable, %South KoreaSingaporeAustraliaLaosVanuatuDashed line, the delegation divide: +7.2 pts per log point of GDP pc (R² 0.71)

Balam Labs · Agent Delegability Index v2026.1 · balamlabs.org/adi

What drives the number

Who works in South Korea, and how delegable their tasks are

Professionals and technicians and associate professionals supply 60% of South Korea’s delegable task time while employing 41% of its workers.

Share of employment
South Korea100%
World100%
Points of delegable task time (sum = ADI)
South Korea47.6%
World35.2%

Hover a block to read one group. Shade: the group’s ADI, light 10% to dark 85%.

Major groupEmployment, South KoreaWorldADI of group, South KoreaPoints of ADI, South Korea
1 · Managers1.4%3.9%82.91.2
4 · Clerical support workers12.5%5.0%78.99.9
2 · Professionals23.1%11.2%71.216.4
3 · Technicians and associate professionals17.9%6.7%68.012.2
5 · Service and sales workers8.7%17.8%28.62.5
8 · Plant and machine operators and assemblers10.2%7.6%13.31.4
6 · Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers4.7%21.9%17.10.8
7 · Craft and related trades workers7.8%10.8%18.41.4
9 · Elementary occupations13.6%15.2%13.11.8

South Korea reports employment at one ISCO digit, so occupations inside each major group carry equal weight.

What stops the agent here

Barriers, weighted by its jobs

The largest gap with the world is physical presence: 59% of task weight against 72% worldwide, a lighter brake on agents.

BarrierShare of task weightKORWorld
Physical presence
59%72%
Accountability
30%26%
Trust and care
29%26%
Access to systems
63%59%

Dashed tick: world, weighting the same tasks by world employment. A task can carry more than one barrier.

AI use

Delegable work and actual AI use

With 3.85× the world’s Claude use per working-age person, South Korea uses AI more than its delegable work alone would suggest (gap -0.79 standard deviations).

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ADI against Claude use per working-age person, South Korea highlighted01020304050600.050.10.20.5125Claude use per working-age person, world = 1 (log scale)ADI: task time at least partly delegable, %South KoreaSingaporeMozambique

Balam Labs · Agent Delegability Index v2026.1 · balamlabs.org/adi

Peers

South Korea among the four income groups

ADI by income group, South Korea highlighted010203040506070Low income 17Lower-middle income 33Upper-middle income 43High income 53South Korea

Ring colour: income group. Vertical tick: employment-weighted mean of the row.

Same ADI, different income
East Asia and Pacific

Within its region

South Korea sits between Tuvalu (50.7%) and Brunei (46.2%); Singapore leads the region at 64.2% and Vanuatu closes it at 25.5%.

CountryADI%
Singapore64.2
Australia51.7
Tuvalu50.7
South Korea47.6
Brunei46.2
Nauru44.9
Palau44.3
Japan43.7
Marshall Islands40.9
Mongolia38.8
Fiji37.1
Philippines35.3
Samoa34.6
Tonga33.1
Thailand33.0
Kiribati32.5
Papua New Guinea32.2
Indonesia31.4
Myanmar28.8
Viet Nam28.5
Cambodia26.7
Timor-Leste26.5
Laos25.9
Vanuatu25.5

Dashed line: regional employment-weighted mean, 35.3%. World: 35.2%.

In the atlas
Map of the Agent Delegability Index by countryFiji: 37.1% (rank 74 of 146)Tanzania: 19.8% (rank 143 of 146)W. Sahara: no occupation dataCanada: no occupation dataUnited States: 51.9% (rank 9 of 146)Kazakhstan: no occupation dataUzbekistan: no occupation dataPapua New Guinea: 32.2% (rank 100 of 146)Indonesia: 31.4% (rank 104 of 146)Argentina: 43.4% (rank 48 of 146)Chile: 40.0% (rank 58 of 146)DR Congo: 24.3% (rank 131 of 146)Somalia: 39.2% (rank 62 of 146)Kenya: 29.6% (rank 114 of 146)Sudan: 27.9% (rank 122 of 146)Chad: 24.2% (rank 132 of 146)Haiti: no occupation dataDominican Republic: 37.2% (rank 73 of 146)Russia: 45.7% (rank 36 of 146)Bahamas: 42.2% (rank 53 of 146)Falkland Is.: no occupation dataNorway: 50.9% (rank 11 of 146)Greenland: no occupation dataFr. S. Antarctic Lands: no occupation dataTimor-Leste: 26.5% (rank 127 of 146)South Africa: no occupation dataLesotho: 20.5% (rank 142 of 146)Mexico: 36.8% (rank 76 of 146)Uruguay: 38.2% (rank 68 of 146)Brazil: 39.9% (rank 59 of 146)Bolivia: 31.1% (rank 106 of 146)Peru: 33.0% (rank 96 of 146)Colombia: 38.3% (rank 65 of 146)Panama: 34.4% (rank 87 of 146)Costa Rica: 37.8% (rank 71 of 146)Nicaragua: no occupation dataHonduras: 30.9% (rank 107 of 146)El Salvador: 33.6% (rank 90 of 146)Guatemala: 30.3% (rank 110 of 146)Belize: 37.9% (rank 69 of 146)Venezuela: no occupation dataGuyana: 33.3% (rank 93 of 146)Suriname: no occupation dataFrance: 50.7% (rank 15 of 146)Ecuador: 29.3% (rank 115 of 146)Puerto Rico: 49.9% (rank 19 of 146)Jamaica: 40.5% (rank 57 of 146)Cuba: no occupation dataZimbabwe: 22.2% (rank 137 of 146)Botswana: 32.0% (rank 101 of 146)Namibia: 39.5% (rank 61 of 146)Senegal: no occupation dataMali: 23.3% (rank 134 of 146)Mauritania: no occupation dataBenin: 28.1% (rank 121 of 146)Niger: 23.5% (rank 133 of 146)Nigeria: 29.6% (rank 113 of 146)Cameroon: 38.3% (rank 66 of 146)Togo: 30.0% (rank 111 of 146)Ghana: 30.3% (rank 109 of 146)Côte d’Ivoire: 28.4% (rank 120 of 146)Guinea: 28.8% (rank 118 of 146)Guinea-Bissau: 22.0% (rank 138 of 146)Liberia: no occupation dataSierra Leone: no occupation dataBurkina Faso: 25.5% (rank 129 of 146)Central African Rep.: no occupation dataCongo: no occupation dataGabon: 34.8% (rank 83 of 146)Equatorial Guinea: 30.8% (rank 108 of 146)Zambia: 22.8% (rank 136 of 146)Malawi: 32.5% (rank 98 of 146)Mozambique: 17.9% (rank 145 of 146)Eswatini: 33.9% (rank 89 of 146)Angola: 27.4% (rank 125 of 146)Burundi: 14.7% (rank 146 of 146)Israel: 54.3% (rank 6 of 146)Lebanon: 39.6% (rank 60 of 146)Madagascar: 19.7% (rank 144 of 146)West Bank and Gaza: 36.4% (rank 77 of 146)The Gambia: 33.2% (rank 94 of 146)Tunisia: 31.6% (rank 102 of 146)Algeria: no occupation dataJordan: 36.0% (rank 81 of 146)United Arab Emirates: 43.0% (rank 50 of 146)Qatar: 37.9% (rank 69 of 146)Kuwait: no occupation dataIraq: 36.8% (rank 75 of 146)Oman: no occupation dataVanuatu: 25.5% (rank 130 of 146)Cambodia: 26.7% (rank 126 of 146)Thailand: 33.0% (rank 97 of 146)Laos: 25.9% (rank 128 of 146)Myanmar: 28.8% (rank 117 of 146)Viet Nam: 28.5% (rank 119 of 146)North Korea: no occupation dataSouth Korea: 47.6% (rank 30 of 146)Mongolia: 38.8% (rank 64 of 146)India: 27.8% (rank 123 of 146)Bangladesh: 27.8% (rank 124 of 146)Bhutan: no occupation dataNepal: 34.8% (rank 84 of 146)Pakistan: 28.9% (rank 116 of 146)Afghanistan: 22.9% (rank 135 of 146)Tajikistan: no occupation dataKyrgyzstan: 33.4% (rank 91 of 146)Turkmenistan: no occupation dataIran: 36.0% (rank 80 of 146)Syria: no occupation dataArmenia: no occupation dataSweden: 54.8% (rank 4 of 146)Belarus: 45.0% (rank 40 of 146)Ukraine: no occupation dataPoland: 49.6% (rank 23 of 146)Austria: 49.8% (rank 20 of 146)Hungary: 46.1% (rank 33 of 146)Moldova: 31.4% (rank 105 of 146)Romania: 37.7% (rank 72 of 146)Lithuania: 49.4% (rank 24 of 146)Latvia: 48.7% (rank 26 of 146)Estonia: 48.8% (rank 25 of 146)Germany: 50.7% (rank 13 of 146)Bulgaria: 42.6% (rank 51 of 146)Greece: 45.3% (rank 38 of 146)Türkiye: 38.3% (rank 66 of 146)Albania: 31.5% (rank 103 of 146)Croatia: 47.1% (rank 31 of 146)Switzerland: 54.0% (rank 7 of 146)Luxembourg: 63.5% (rank 2 of 146)Belgium: 50.7% (rank 16 of 146)Netherlands: 54.8% (rank 5 of 146)Portugal: 48.0% (rank 28 of 146)Spain: 44.5% (rank 43 of 146)Ireland: 52.9% (rank 8 of 146)New Caledonia: no occupation dataSolomon Is.: no occupation dataNew Zealand: no occupation dataAustralia: 51.7% (rank 10 of 146)Sri Lanka: 33.3% (rank 92 of 146)China: no occupation dataTaiwan: no occupation dataItaly: 45.9% (rank 34 of 146)Denmark: 50.6% (rank 17 of 146)United Kingdom: 54.9% (rank 3 of 146)Iceland: 50.3% (rank 18 of 146)Azerbaijan: no occupation dataGeorgia: 34.7% (rank 85 of 146)Philippines: 35.3% (rank 82 of 146)Malaysia: no occupation dataBrunei: 46.2% (rank 32 of 146)Slovenia: 45.7% (rank 35 of 146)Finland: 47.6% (rank 29 of 146)Slovakia: 45.3% (rank 39 of 146)Czechia: 45.4% (rank 37 of 146)Eritrea: no occupation dataJapan: 43.7% (rank 45 of 146)Paraguay: 36.2% (rank 78 of 146)Yemen: no occupation dataSaudi Arabia: no occupation dataN. Cyprus: no occupation dataCyprus: 49.7% (rank 22 of 146)Morocco: no occupation dataEgypt: 36.2% (rank 79 of 146)Libya: no occupation dataEthiopia: 20.6% (rank 141 of 146)Djibouti: no occupation dataSomaliland: no occupation dataUganda: 21.4% (rank 140 of 146)Rwanda: 21.8% (rank 139 of 146)Bosnia and Herzegovina: 38.9% (rank 63 of 146)North Macedonia: 42.1% (rank 54 of 146)Serbia: 41.6% (rank 55 of 146)Montenegro: 49.8% (rank 21 of 146)Kosovo: no occupation dataTrinidad and Tobago: no occupation dataS. Sudan: no occupation dataBarbados: 44.8%Cabo Verde: 34.3%Curaçao: 48.5%Grenada: 29.7%Kiribati: 32.5%Saint Lucia: 42.4%Maldives: 43.4%Marshall Islands: 40.9%Malta: 50.7%Mauritius: 43.7%Nauru: 44.9%Palau: 44.3%Singapore: 64.2%Seychelles: 43.6%Tonga: 33.1%Tuvalu: 50.7%Samoa: 34.6%
< 25%25–30%30–35%35–45%≥ 45%No data
Cite this record
Text

Espinal Maya, Cristian, and Santiago Jiménez Londoño. 2026. ADI v2026.1: Agent Delegability Index data, code and MCP server. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23552918. Record: South Korea (KOR), https://balamlabs.org/adi/countries/KOR

BibTeX
@misc{espinal2026adidata,
  title     = {{ADI} v2026.1: Agent Delegability Index data, code and {MCP} server},
  author    = {Espinal Maya, Cristian and Jim{\'e}nez Londo{\~n}o, Santiago},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {Zenodo},
  version   = {v2026.1},
  doi       = {10.5281/zenodo.23552918},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23552918},
  note      = {Record: South Korea (KOR)}
}

Static JSON: /adi/v2026.1/country/KOR.json

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