'Jip Chaja Sammanri'... 247,000 People Moved Residences Last Year Due to Housing Issues

Statistics Korea Announces '2020 Domestic Population Movement'... 'Housing Ownership' Most Common Reason

[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] Last year, the number of people moving residences due to 'housing reasons' increased the most significantly in South Korea.

In Seoul, 65,000 people moved out, resulting in a net outflow, whereas areas in the metropolitan region such as Gwacheon, Gimpo, and Hanam in Gyeonggi Province were identified as the regions with the highest net inflow nationwide. This is analyzed as an effect of Seoul residents, unable to endure the soaring housing prices, moving to nearby metropolitan areas.

According to the '2020 Annual Domestic Population Movement' data released by Statistics Korea on the 26th, the total number of people moving in last year was 7,735,000, an increase of 631,000 compared to 2019. In particular, the number of people moving in due to 'housing reasons' reached 247,000, accounting for about 40% of the increase.

The population movement rate (number of movers per 100 people) was 15.5%, up 1.2 percentage points from the previous year. This is the highest figure in five years since 2015. The increase in the number of movers and the magnitude of the increase also showed the highest figures since 1999. For reference, the population movement rate in 2019 was 13.8%, the lowest in 47 years since 1972 (11.0%).

The regions with net population inflow were six cities and provinces including Sejong (3.5%) and Gyeonggi (1.3%), while 11 cities and provinces including Ulsan (-1.2%) and Daejeon (-0.8%) experienced net outflow. The main reason for the net inflow in Sejong and Gyeonggi was identified as 'housing.'

By age group, the movement rate was high among those in their 20s (25.5%) and 30s (23.2%), and low among those aged 60 and above. Compared to the previous year, the movement rate increased across all age groups.

By gender, men had a movement rate of 15.4%, and women 14.8%, with men being 0.6 percentage points higher than women.

Kim Soo-young, head of the Population Trends Division at Statistics Korea, explained, "Population movement generally decreases in the long term as the population ages and transportation and communication develop, but in 2020, population movement increased significantly compared to the previous year. The main reason for the large increase in movers is the rise in moves due to housing reasons such as housing sales or monthly rent transactions."

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