Korea Immigration Regional Dashboard
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Registered foreigners are counted across 192 nationalities.
Costa Rica
People registered with Costa Rica nationality number 86, which is less than 0.1% of all registered foreigners and ranks 115 in size. Compared with 41 in 2015, 10 years earlier, that is an increase of about 109.8%. They live in 48 districts, and the largest counts are Incheon Yeonsu-gu with 8, Seoul Jung-gu with 5, and Gyeonggi-do Siheung-si with 4. The largest age group is 25-29 at 16.8%, and men are 41.1%. This value alone is based on staying foreigners. Estimated mother tongues are Spanish at 98.1% and Southwestern Caribbean English Creole at 1.1%.
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.
| Indicators | Costa Rica | All registered foreigners | Relative to total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered foreigners | 86 | 1,604,920 | under 0.1% of the total |
| Districts of residence | 48 | 250 | 19.2% of the total |
| Index of dissimilarity (D) | - | 0.280 | - |
| Isolation index | - | 0.045 | - |
| Interaction with Koreans | - | 0.955 | - |
| Continent | - | - | - |
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.
Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook, each year.
Note: The vertical scale resets to the size of the selected nationality.
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| Year | Costa Rica | Vietnam |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 16 | 52,157 |
| 2007 | 13 | 67,197 |
| 2008 | 12 | 79,848 |
| 2009 | 22 | 86,166 |
| 2010 | 24 | 98,225 |
| 2011 | 23 | 110,564 |
| 2012 | 28 | 114,211 |
| 2013 | 27 | 113,843 |
| 2014 | 27 | 122,571 |
| 2015 | 41 | 128,042 |
| 2016 | 54 | 137,769 |
| 2017 | 47 | 151,385 |
| 2018 | 47 | 170,707 |
| 2019 | 48 | 187,334 |
| 2020 | 50 | 181,415 |
| 2021 | 62 | 178,928 |
| 2022 | 77 | 196,883 |
| 2023 | 77 | 227,930 |
| 2024 | 81 | 261,581 |
| 2025 | 86 | 293,907 |
| Rank | District | Costa Rica Nationality | Share of local foreigners | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Incheon Yeonsu-gu | 8 | 0.0 | |
| 2 | Seoul Jung-gu | 5 | 0.0 | |
| 3 | Gyeonggi-do Siheung-si | 4 | 0.0 | |
| 4 | Seoul Dongdaemun-gu | 4 | 0.0 | |
| 5 | Seoul Seodaemun-gu | 4 | 0.0 | |
| 6 | Gyeonggi-do Pyeongtaek-si | 3 | 0.0 | |
| 7 | Seoul Gwanak-gu | 3 | 0.0 | |
| 8 | Seoul Nowon-gu | 3 | 0.1 | |
| 9 | Seoul Seongbuk-gu | 3 | 0.0 | |
| 10 | Seoul Songpa-gu | 3 | 0.0 |
Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook (registered foreigners by district and nationality).
Note: Nationwide, Costa Rica nationality is 18.3% of all registered foreigners, so a district where the share among its foreigners is above this has relatively many of them.
| Rank | District | Costa Rica Nationality | Location quotient (LQ) | Share of local foreigners |
|---|
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.
| Visa category | Persons | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marriage Migration(F6) | 25 | 29.1 | |
| Student(D2) | 16 | 18.6 | |
| Other statuses(ETC) | 11 | 12.8 | |
| General Trainee(D4) | 7 | 8.1 | |
| Religious Worker(D6) | 6 | 7.0 | |
| Specially Designated Activities(E7) | 6 | 7.0 | |
| Residential(F2) | 6 | 7.0 | |
| Dependent Family(F3) | 3 | 3.5 | |
| Other statuses | 6 | 7.0 |
Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook (registered foreigners by status of stay and nationality).
Note: The rows of this table add to 86, the whole of the Costa Rica nationality.
| Age group | Total | Male | Female | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0-4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1.1 |
| 5-9 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2.2 |
| 10-14 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 5.4 |
| 15-19 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| 20-24 | 19 | 4 | 15 | 10.3 |
| 25-29 | 31 | 10 | 21 | 16.8 |
| 30-34 | 28 | 9 | 19 | 15.1 |
| 35-39 | 20 | 9 | 11 | 10.8 |
| 40-44 | 17 | 8 | 9 | 9.2 |
| 45-49 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 6.5 |
| 50-54 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 4.9 |
| 55-59 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 4.9 |
| 60+ | 17 | 9 | 8 | 9.2 |
Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook (staying foreigners by nationality and age).
Only this table counts all foreign residents, so it totals 185 rather than the 86 registered foreigners
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.
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.
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| Year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 0.0 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 16.7 |
| 2009 | 0.0 | 27.3 | 9.1 | 9.1 | 9.1 |
| 2010 | 0.0 | 29.2 | 0.0 | 8.3 | 8.3 |
| 2011 | 0.0 | 34.8 | 0.0 | 13.0 | 8.7 |
| 2012 | 10.7 | 35.7 | 3.6 | 10.7 | 7.1 |
| 2013 | 11.1 | 25.9 | 3.7 | 25.9 | 7.4 |
| 2014 | 11.1 | 29.6 | 0.0 | 18.5 | 7.4 |
| 2015 | 10.0 | 30.0 | 5.0 | 20.0 | 5.0 |
| 2016 | 10.9 | 30.4 | 2.2 | 23.9 | 6.5 |
| 2017 | 10.6 | 34.0 | 17.0 | 6.4 | 6.4 |
| 2018 | 17.0 | 21.3 | 19.1 | 14.9 | 4.3 |
| 2019 | 20.8 | 16.7 | 14.6 | 16.7 | 2.1 |
| 2020 | 24.0 | 22.0 | 18.0 | 10.0 | 4.0 |
| 2021 | 22.6 | 25.8 | 16.1 | 16.1 | 3.2 |
| 2022 | 20.8 | 28.6 | 15.6 | 9.1 | 0.0 |
| 2023 | 26.0 | 24.7 | 11.7 | 9.1 | 2.6 |
| 2024 | 28.4 | 13.6 | 12.3 | 12.3 | 8.6 |
| 2025 | 29.1 | 18.6 | 12.8 | 8.1 | 7.0 |
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
| Year | Index of dissimilarity (D) | Isolation index | Interaction with Koreans |
|---|
| First language | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish | 98.1 | |
| Southwestern Caribbean English Creole | 1.1 |
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.
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
| Province | Costa Rica Nationality | Share of national |
|---|---|---|
| Seoul | 32 | 37.2 |
| Gyeonggi-do | 17 | 19.8 |
| Incheon | 10 | 11.6 |
| Daegu | 7 | 8.1 |
| Busan | 4 | 4.7 |
| Gyeongsangnam-do | 2 | 2.3 |
| Gwangju | 2 | 2.3 |
| Daejeon | 2 | 2.3 |
| Ulsan | 2 | 2.3 |
| Jeollabuk-do | 2 | 2.3 |
| Jeju-do | 2 | 2.3 |
| Chungcheongnam-do | 2 | 2.3 |
| Gyeongsangbuk-do | 1 | 1.2 |
| Chungcheongbuk-do | 1 | 1.2 |