More than 1 in 10 residents have 'migrant background' in 17 Korean municipalities

People with migrant backgrounds now make up more than 5 percent of South Korea’s population, new official data shows, driven by an increasingly young influx of foreign workers, students and multicultural families.

South Korea counted some 2,715,000 people with migrant backgrounds as of Nov. 1, 2024, according to the National Data Office on Monday. The category includes naturalized citizens, first- and second-generation immigrants, long-term foreign residents as well as North Korean defectors.

They now account for 5.2 percent of the country’s 51.8 million people.

The number increased by 134,000 from a year earlier, lifting their share of the population by about 0.3 percentage point and outpacing overall population growth of just 0.1 percent.

Their numbers have been rising more quickly than the general population for years, helped in part by many of them being in their prime working years — a demographic Korea increasingly lacks as its aging accelerates.

“The growth of the migrant-background population is driven largely by increases in foreign workers, international students and marriage migrants,” said Kim Seo-young, head of the population census division. “Many go on to naturalize, marry and raise children, contributing to family formation in Korea.”

Foreign nationals made up 75.2 percent of the total, or about 2,043,000 people, while 672,000 were Korean citizens with migrant backgrounds.

Second-generation immigrants were the largest subgroup at 381,000, followed by naturalized citizens at 245,000.

A striking 81.9 percent of people with migrant backgrounds were between 15 and 64, compared to 70 percent for the overall population. Only 5.5 percent were 65 or older.

Kim noted that people in their 30s (24.3 percent) and 20s (21 percent) formed the largest age groups, in sharp contrast to Korea’s fast-aging population.

More than half of all migrant-background residents — 56.8 percent — live in Greater Seoul, which includes Incheon and Gyeonggi Province.

At the city level, Ansan has the largest migrant-background population with 113,000, followed by Hwaseong (85,000) and Siheung (81,000), all in Gyeonggi Province.

These cities host large manufacturing districts and clusters for small and medium-sized enterprises that recruit foreign workers under Korea’s Employment Permit System.

Children and youth aged 24 or younger totaled 738,000, up 7.9 percent from the previous year. They now represent 27.2 percent of all people with migrant backgrounds, roughly half foreign nationals (50.3 percent) and half second-generation Korean citizens (49.7 percent).

By parental origin:

Together, these three groups account for 55.7 percent of all migrant-background minors.

Seventeen municipalities have migrant-background shares exceeding 10 percent of their population, with many of them being rural manufacturing hubs experiencing labor shortages.