South Korea’s small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) population reached 8,499,552 at the end of 2024, up 2.4% from a year earlier, but employment rose by only 0.04% to 19,124,806. The increase was driven by solo enterprises, which grew 3.5% to 6,666,023 and represented 78.4% of all SMEs, while firms with two or more employees declined 1.4%. Total revenue increased 0.7% to 3,324.2 trillion won, or approximately $2.4 trillion. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ SME Basic Statistics also showed continued concentration in the Seoul metropolitan area and a rapidly aging ownership base, with owners aged 60 or older accounting for 31.7% of SMEs. Experts say policies encouraging solo businesses to scale into employers are needed for the sector’s numerical growth to produce broader qualitative gains.