Chungnam Has the Highest Proportion of Foreign Residents Nationwide... One in Three Is of Chinese Nationality

[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The proportion of foreign residents in Chungnam Province has recorded the highest nationwide. Among these residents, Chinese nationals account for 3 out of 10.

According to the province on the 21st, as of November 1 last year (based on the Ministry of the Interior and Safety's statistics on 'Local Government Foreign Resident Status Data'), the number of foreign residents in the Chungnam area was 127,057, accounting for 5.8% of the total regional population.

This is the highest rate in the country, and in terms of the number of residents, Chungnam ranks fifth after Gyeonggi (720,90), Seoul (465,885), Gyeongnam (134,675), and Incheon (130,292).

In particular, Chungnam has shown a steady increase in the number of foreign residents over the past four years. In fact, the number of foreign residents in the region increased from 95,553 (4.5% of the total population) in 2016 to 104,854 (4.8%) in 2017, 117,094 (5.4%) in 2018, and 127,057 (5.8%) in 2019.

These statistics indicate that Chungnam has entered a multicultural society. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) classifies a country as multicultural and multiethnic when the 'migration background population,' including foreigners, second-generation immigrants, and naturalized citizens, exceeds 5% of the total population. Based on this, Chungnam has already become a multicultural society since 2018 (5.4%).

The types of foreign residents living in Chungnam are subdivided into ▲foreign workers who have not acquired Korean nationality, 34,757 ▲overseas Koreans with foreign nationality, 17,827 ▲children of foreign residents, 14,805 ▲marriage immigrants, 9,089 ▲international students, 7,662 ▲Korean nationality holders, 8,234 ▲and other foreigners, 34,683.

By city and county, Cheonan has the highest number of foreign residents at 35,781, followed by Asan with 32,271 and Dangjin with 10,674. This is interpreted as foreign residents concentrating in areas where industrial complexes are dense and employment is relatively easy. Among these, Cheonan is confirmed to have the ninth highest number of foreign residents nationwide.

The ratio of foreign residents to the total population by city and county was recorded as Asan (9.3%), Geumsan (7.7%), Dangjin (6.3%), Nonsan (6.2%), Yesan (5.5%), Cheonan (5.3%), and Boryeong (5.2%).

The nationalities of foreign residents living in Chungnam are ▲China 33,556 (32.2%) ▲Thailand 14,273 (13.7%) ▲Vietnam 13,128 (12.6%) ▲Uzbekistan 6,231 (6.0%) ▲Cambodia 4,618 (4.5%) in order of size. The top three countries?China, Thailand, and Vietnam?account for 58.6% of the total.

The province plans to identify the status of local foreign residents based on statistical analysis data and to develop and promote customized policies for foreign residents and multicultural families.

Meanwhile, foreign residents encompass those who have not acquired Korean nationality (foreigners who have registered as foreigners and stayed in Korea for more than 90 days), Korean nationality holders, and children of foreign residents.

Based on this criterion, as of November last year, the total number of foreign residents living in Korea was estimated to be 2,216,612.

A provincial official said, “The rapid increase of foreign residents in Chungnam is becoming prominent,” and added, “Considering this trend, the province will spare no effort to support customized policies for foreign residents to help the stable settlement of foreign residents and multicultural families and to contribute to the local economy.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.