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Registered foreigners are counted across 192 nationalities.

Colombia

People registered with Colombia nationality number 646, which is less than 0.1% of all registered foreigners and ranks 62 in size. Compared with 219 in 2015, 10 years earlier, that is an increase of about 195%. They live in 120 districts, and the largest counts are Seoul Yongsan-gu with 36, Seoul Jongno-gu with 33, and Seoul Seodaemun-gu with 29. The index of dissimilarity (D) from Koreans is 0.454, the isolation index is 0, and interaction with Koreans is 0.961. The highest location quotient (LQ) is in Seoul Jongno-gu at 19.1, where this nationality is 0% of the foreigners in that district. The continent of origin is Latin America. The largest age group is 25-29 at 21.8%, and men are 36.6%. This value alone is based on staying foreigners. Estimated mother tongues are Spanish at 99.2% and Colombian Sign Language at 0.3%.

Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook on Immigration and Foreign Policy 2025 (registered foreigners by nationality, registered foreigners by nationality and district, registered foreigners by status of stay), staying foreigners by nationality and age

The index of dissimilarity, the isolation index, and the location quotient are calculated from the open dataset.

Table 1.Key indicators and benchmarks, 2025Unit: people, organizations, index
2025
IndicatorsColombiaAll registered foreignersRelative to total
Registered foreigners6461,604,920under 0.1% of the total
Districts of residence12025048.0% of the total
Index of dissimilarity (D)0.4540.280rank 83 of 107
Isolation index0.00000.045rank 87 of 107
Interaction with Koreans0.9610.955rank 32 of 107
ContinentLatin America5,017 (0.3% of the total)12.9% of those from Latin America

Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook (registered foreigners by nationality), segregation indicators from the open dataset.

Note: the dissimilarity index D measures how far a nationality's distribution across districts differs from that of Korean nationals; 0 means the two distributions match and 1 means complete separation. Isolation is the probability that a member meets someone of the same nationality, and interaction the probability of meeting a Korean resident. In the All registered foreigners column the three indices treat all registered foreigners as one group and use the same formulas. In the Relative to total column, rank 1 is the highest value among nationalities with 100 or more registered foreigners that year; in the continent row that column gives this nationality's share of all registered foreigners from the continent.

Figure 1.Colombia nationals among registered foreigners, 2006–2025Unit: 10,000 persons

Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook, each year.

Note: The vertical scale resets to the size of the selected nationality.

View as table
YearColombiaVietnam
20065952,157
20076367,197
20087279,848
20097986,166
201010498,225
2011120110,564
2012143114,211
2013153113,843
2014218122,571
2015219128,042
2016250137,769
2017262151,385
2018307170,707
2019384187,334
2020369181,415
2021439178,928
2022527196,883
2023533227,930
2024600261,581
2025646293,907
Table 2.Colombia nationality, top 10 districts, 2025Unit: persons, %
2025
RankDistrictColombia NationalityShare of local foreigners
1Seoul Yongsan-gu360.3
2Seoul Jongno-gu330.3
3Seoul Seodaemun-gu290.2
4Gyeonggi-do Pyeongtaek-si270.1
5Seoul Gwanak-gu250.1
6Seoul Dongdaemun-gu220.1
7Seoul Mapo-gu210.2
8Seoul Seongbuk-gu160.1
9Gyeonggi-do Seongnam-si Bundang-gu150.5
10Busan Nam-gu140.2

Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook (registered foreigners by district and nationality).

Note: Nationwide, Colombia nationals make up 0.0% of all registered foreigners, so an area whose share is above that holds relatively many of them.

Table 3.10 districts with the highest location quotient, 2025Unit: people, ratio, %
2025
RankDistrictColombia NationalityLocation quotient (LQ)Share of local foreigners
1Seoul Jongno-gu3319.10.0
2Seoul Yongsan-gu3614.20.0
3Gyeonggi-do Yeoncheon-gun59.40.0
4Seoul Seodaemun-gu297.70.0
5Seoul Dongdaemun-gu225.00.0
6Seoul Mapo-gu214.70.0
7Busan Nam-gu144.40.0
8Seoul Gwanak-gu254.20.0
9Seoul Jung-gu64.00.0
10Gyeonggi-do Pyeongtaek-si273.50.0

Source: Location quotient from the open dataset.

Note: the location quotient is the local share divided by the national share; above 1.5 counts as over-representation.

Table 4.By status of stay Colombia nationality, 2025Unit: persons, %
2025
Visa categoryPersonsShare
Marriage Migration(F6)14622.6
Student(D2)12118.7
Other statuses(ETC)11918.4
Residential(F2)568.7
General Trainee(D4)538.2
Arts & Entertainment(E6)355.4
Dependent Family(F3)233.6
Specially Designated Activities(E7)203.1
Other statuses7311.3

Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook (registered foreigners by status of stay and nationality).

Note: The rows of this table add to 646, the whole of the Colombia nationality.

Table 5.Age and sex, 2025Unit: persons, %
2025
Age groupTotalMaleFemaleShare
0-414771.4
5-914771.4
10-14251692.6
15-193714233.8
20-241564810816.0
25-292136215121.8
30-341856312219.0
35-39105416410.8
40-445524315.6
45-496126356.3
50-543721163.8
55-59248162.5
60+4920295.0

Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook (staying foreigners by nationality and age).

Only this table counts all foreign residents, so it totals 975 rather than the 646 registered foreigners

Figure 2.Composition by age and sex, 2025Unit: %
2025

Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook (staying foreigners by nationality and age).

Note: The bar length is the share each cell holds within the whole nationality. This figure alone uses staying foreigners, so its total differs from registered foreigners.

Figure 3.Change in status-of-stay composition, 2008–2025Unit: %

Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook, each year (registered foreigners by status of stay and nationality).

Note: The share each status holds within this nationality in that year. The five largest statuses in 2025 are drawn.

View as table
Year
20080.022.212.512.58.3
20090.032.911.411.40.0
20100.030.811.58.78.7
20110.030.012.58.313.3
20127.023.116.10.013.3
201311.126.810.50.013.1
201411.830.88.90.014.2
201512.435.19.20.014.1
201617.435.89.50.09.5
201716.427.921.80.08.8
201817.922.121.50.07.2
201917.417.426.03.910.9
202021.715.427.45.78.7
202121.417.825.36.210.0
202219.918.025.26.69.5
202321.220.317.37.58.8
202420.817.320.58.811.0
202522.618.718.48.78.2
Figure 4.Residential segregation and exposure over time, 2014–2025Unit: index
Indicators

Source: Segregation indicators from the open dataset.

Note: the dissimilarity index D measures how far a nationality's distribution across districts differs from that of Korean nationals, isolation is the probability that a member meets someone of the same nationality, and interaction the probability of meeting a Korean resident. The three run on different ranges, so they are selected one at a time.

View as table
YearIndex of dissimilarity (D)Isolation indexInteraction with Koreans
20140.6280.0000.971
20150.6680.0000.965
20160.6340.0000.964
20170.6150.0000.965
20180.5990.0000.965
20190.5630.0000.965
20200.5490.0000.969
20210.5290.0000.968
20220.5080.0000.965
20230.4910.0000.966
20240.4650.0000.963
20250.4540.0000.961
Table 6.Colombia nationality, mother-tongue compositionUnit: %
First languageShare
Spanish99.2

Source: Ethnologue 24th edition, first-language shares by country.

Note: the estimated demand on the language page is this share multiplied by the registered foreign population of each nationality. Shares below 0.5% are not listed, and a person who speaks more than one language is not distinguished.

Figure 5.By province, Colombia nationality, 2025Unit: persons
2025

Count range

    Note: The boundaries are shapes simplified for display and are drawn as pen lines. The fill values are the provincial totals from the yearbook and do not depend on the shapes.

    Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook (registered foreigners by nationality and district), summed to the province level.

    View as table
    ProvinceColombia NationalityShare of national
    Seoul29645.8
    Gyeonggi-do14121.8
    Incheon426.5
    Busan406.2
    Gangwon-do203.1
    Gyeongsangnam-do162.5
    Chungcheongnam-do162.5
    Daegu152.3
    Daejeon142.2
    Chungcheongbuk-do142.2
    Jeju-do91.4
    Jeollabuk-do60.9
    Jeollanam-do50.8
    Gyeongsangbuk-do40.6
    Ulsan40.6
    Gwangju20.3
    Sejong20.3