SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's migrant-background population rose last year due to the rapid inflow of foreigners into the Asian country, statistical ministry data showed Monday.
The population with a migrant background, who resided here for at least three months, totaled 2,715,074 as of Nov. 1, 2024, up 5.2 percent from a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.
It refers to those with a history of migration or those with at least one of their parents having a migrant background.
The proportion of the migrant-background population to the country's total population added 0.3 percentage points to 5.2 percent in the cited year.
Among the total migrant-background population, the number of locals, including locally-born children of immigrants, naturalized South Koreans and others, increased 4.1 percent to 672,330, while the number of foreigners swelled 5.6 percent to 2,042,744 last year.
Of the total, the highest proportion of 32.7 percent resided in Gyeonggi province last year, followed by 17.5 percent in the capital city of Seoul, and 6.6 percent in the western port city of Incheon. ■
