2.26 Million Foreign Residents in Korea... Largest Scale Ever Recorded

120,000 Increase Compared to the Previous Year

The number of foreign residents living in South Korea has reached 2.26 million, accounting for 4.4% of the total population. This figure is 40,000 higher than the 2.22 million recorded in 2019, the year with the highest number so far, indicating that the decline in foreign residents due to COVID-19 has stopped and is now sharply rebounding.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety analyzed data from Statistics Korea's Population and Housing Census and announced the "2022 Status of Foreign Residents in Local Governments." According to the analysis, as of November 1 last year, the number of foreign residents residing in the country for more than three months was 2,258,248, an increase of 123,679 (5.8%) compared to the previous year.

Looking at the increase and population by statistical type compared to the previous year, the number of people without Korean nationality increased by 102,379 (6.2%) to 1,752,346; those who acquired Korean nationality increased by 12,945 (6.1%) to 223,825; and children of foreign residents born in Korea increased by 8,355 (3.1%) to 282,077.

In particular, the number of international students rose by 32,790 (20.9%) to 189,397, surpassing the number of marriage immigrants (175,756) for the first time, while the steadily increasing number of overseas Koreans with foreign nationality was recorded at 397,581 (an additional 29,000, 7.9%).

By region, foreign residents increased in all 17 metropolitan cities and provinces nationwide, with Gyeonggi (37,010), Seoul (15,546), and Incheon (12,171) showing the largest increases. It was found that 1,340,681 foreign residents, accounting for 59.4% of the total, live in the Seoul metropolitan area. The cities/counties/districts with the highest number of foreign residents are Ansan (101,850), Suwon (68,633), Siheung (68,482), Hwaseong (66,955), and Bucheon (55,383), all of which are located in Gyeonggi Province.

Meanwhile, the published statistics serve as basic data for central administrative agencies and local governments to establish policies related to the settlement of foreign residents in local communities, and detailed data can be found on the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s website.

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