This file photo shows apartment buildings in Jamsil, southeastern Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 28 (Korea Bizwire) — Most South Koreans reside in cities covering less than a fifth of the national land, data showed Monday.
The land area designated as special purpose areas by the National Land Planning and Utilization Act totaled 106,207 ㎢, According to the data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the state-run Korea Land & Housing Corp.
Special-purpose areas are those areas whose purpose is designated not to be overlapped under urban management planning to ensure economic and efficient use of land.
Special-purpose areas are classified into city, management, agriculture & forestry and natural environment preservation areas.
As a share of South Korea’s total area, city areas account for 16.7 percent, management areas 25.8 percent, agriculture & forestry areas 46.3 percent and natural environment preservation areas 11.2 percent.
The population residing in city areas stood at 47.4 million last year, down 168,317 from 2020, accounting for 91.8 percent of the nation’s total population.
In the meantime, 275,211 cases of development activities were approved across the country last year, of which construction of buildings accounted for the largest share at 59.9 percent.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
