Foreign, multicultural students rise amid declining school population

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The number of Korean students in kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school nationwide fell by nearly 100,000 in a year to 5.68 million while the foreign national or multicultural student populations increased, showing a stark contrast to the country's low birthrate crisis.

According to the Ministry of Education's "2024 Basic Education Statistics Survey" results Thursday, as of April 1, there were 5.684 million elementary, middle and high school students in Korea. This is a decrease of 98,867 students, or 1.7 percent, from last year.

This is the 19th consecutive year of declining enrollment since 2006.

The number of students peaked at 10.31 million in 1986 and has been declining ever since, falling below 10 million in 1990 and breaking the 6 million mark in 2021.

This year, the decline was most noticeable in the lower school levels, with kindergarten students falling by 23,190, or 4.4 percent, to 498,604, and elementary students falling by 108,924, or 4.2 percent, to 2.49 million.

Though the number of middle and high school students increased, the decline in kindergartners and elementary school students was more pronounced due to the nation's declining birthrate, which has accelerated since the mid-to-late 2010s.

The declining school population has also led to a drop in the number of schools nationwide, which now sit at 20,480 -- 125 fewer than the previous year.

By school level, kindergartens decreased by 147 to 8,294, the largest decrease.

Meanwhile, the total number of students with multicultural backgrounds in elementary, middle and high schools was 193,814. This marks the highest number ever since a related survey was conducted, up 12,636 or 7 percent from a year ago. This is double the number of students eight years ago in 2016.

Now, multicultural students make up 3.8 percent of the total students in Korea. Multicultural students in Korea are defined as children with one Korean parent and one parent of a different nationality.

International students also increased by 27,120, or almost 15 percent from last year, resulting in a total of 208,962 students in the country.

The number of international students also reached a record high, surpassing 200,000 for the first time.

By country, Asian countries accounted for the largest share, with China taking 34.5 percent, followed by Vietnam at 26.8 percent, Mongolia at 5.9 percent, Uzbekistan at 5.8 percent, and Nepal at 2.9 percent.