The closing rate of restaurant businesses in South Korea exceeded 20 percent last year, higher than during the height of the COVID-19 period.

According to the FinTech company Pinda's big data business analysis platform, “Open Up,” 176,258 out of 818,867 restaurants closed last year, with a closing rate of 21.52 percent.

This means that more than 1 out of 5 restaurants closed. The number of restaurants that closed last year surged by 82.6 percent from 96,530 in 2020. The closing rate also increased by 4.57 percentage points from 16.95 percent the previous year.

This rate was more than 6 percentage points higher than the average of 15.03 percent between 2020 and 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also higher than last year's closing rate of 14.5 percent, as announced by the Fair Trade Commission.