By Park Hye Ri

The number of foreign residents in the country has reached its highest level since 2019, the year before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Korea Immigration Service (KIS) under the Ministry of Justice on Jan. 16 released statistical data for last month putting the number of expats at 2,507,584, up 11.7% year on year.

The figure accounted a record-high 4.89% of the national population, up from 4.86% in 2019 though that year retains the country's record of 2,524,656 expats.

The immigrant background population comprises naturalized citizens, second-generation immigrants and the foreign population, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. A country is considered multicultural and multiracial if the proportion of expats exceeds 5% of the population, thus Korea is on the brink of designation as a multicultural society.

Among the some 2.5 million expats last year, 1,881,921 (75%) registered with immigration to remain in the country for over 90 days and 625,663 (25%) were on short-term stays.

By country, China had the most expats in Korea with 942,395, followed by Vietnam with 271,712, Thailand 202,121, the U.S. 161,895 and Uzbekistan 87,698.

The number of international students hit 226,507, showing steady growth over the last four years starting with 153,361 in 2020. Among those in last year's figure, 152,094 came for academic purposes such as earning a bachelor's degree and 74,413 for studying the Korean language.

By nationality, Vietnam had the most international students in the nation (80,343), followed by China (70,888), Mongolia (13,802), Uzbekistan (12,530) and Myanmar (5,064).

In addition, KIS finalized its Fourth Basic Plan for Immigration Policy on the direction of immigration policy over the next five years. It also released content on systematization of policy toward the inflow and integration of immigrants and KIS' upgrade to a higher-level public agency.

hrhr@korea.kr