On December 4, near Hongdae in Mapo District, Seoul, foreign tourists take commemorative photos as snow falls. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is quietly becoming more diverse. New census data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Data show that people with a migration background accounted for more than 5 percent of the country’s population in 2024 — a modest but meaningful increase in a nation long assumed to be culturally homogenous.
As of November 1, 2024, the number of residents with some form of migration background reached 2.72 million, or 5.2 percent of the total population. The share rose by three-tenths of a percentage point from the previous year, suggesting a steady shift in Korea’s demographic landscape.
For the first time, the statistics agency conducted a registration-based census survey specifically focused on this group, signaling a new level of institutional acknowledgment.
Roughly a quarter of this population — about 672,000 people — are South Korean nationals, either born to immigrant parents or naturalized as citizens. The remaining 2.04 million are foreign nationals.
Within the Korean segment, second-generation immigrants represent the largest share, numbering around 381,000, while 245,000 people have become citizens through naturalization or legal acknowledgment.
The demographic structure mirrors Korea’s economic realities: more than 81 percent of people with migration backgrounds are in the working-age bracket of 15 to 64, while only 5.5 percent are 65 or older.
Men slightly outnumber women — 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent. Those in their 20s and 30s make up almost half the total, underscoring just how central this population has become to the labor market.
Perhaps the most striking shift is occurring among young people. Last year, Korea was home to 738,000 children and adolescents under 25 with a migration background — an increase of nearly 8 percent from 2023.
Foreigners look around a fish market in the southeastern city of Busan on Dec. 4, 2025. (Yonhap)
Many of these young residents come from Vietnamese, Chinese or ethnic Korean Chinese families, communities that now anchor the country’s evolving multicultural identity.
Migration has remained heavily metropolitan: nearly 57 percent of those with foreign or mixed heritage live in the Seoul metropolitan area, which includes the capital, Gyeonggi Province, and the port city of Incheon.
The rest are scattered across the country, with notable concentrations in the Chungcheong, Gyeongsang and Jeolla regions, each representing between 6 and 11 percent of the total.
While the numbers are not yet transformative, they point toward a South Korea that is becoming more pluralistic in everyday life — in schools, workplaces and neighborhoods.
For a country that built much of its modern identity around ethnic unity, the steady rise of families with global roots offers a quiet but consequential reminder: demographic change is not coming. It is already here.
On the afternoon of July 13, 2023, at HanHakChon in Keimyung University, Dalseo-gu, Daegu, foreign students participating in the ‘2023 Korean Language and Culture Camp’ learned traditional tea ceremony etiquette while dressed in Hanbok. (Yonhap)
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
