Photo : YONHAP News
The number of foreign workers and students in South Korea sharply rose last year, with the total number of long-term international visitors reaching a record high of some two-point-46 million.
According to the interior ministry’s analysis of data from Statistics Korea on Thursday, there were two-point-46 million foreigners staying in the country for over three months as of November 1, 2023, the highest since 2006.
Foreigners were accounting for four-point-eight percent of the nation’s total population of 51-point-77 million.
While foreigners without Korean citizenship jumped ten-point-four percent on-year to one-point-94 million, those that acquired the citizenship rose four-point-eight percent to 234-thousand-506.
The number of foreign laborers expanded 16-point-six percent on-year to 67-thousand-111, while that of students rose eight-point-nine percent to 16-thousand-932.
The ministry attributed the record rise in the number of foreigners to a greater inflow of workers and students.