KIRD Korea Immigration Regional Dashboard
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Registered foreigners are counted across 192 nationalities.

Germany

People registered with Germany nationality number 3,168, which is 0.2% of all registered foreigners and ranks 30 in size. Compared with 2,088 in 2015, 10 years earlier, that is an increase of about 51.7%. They live in 176 districts, and the largest counts are Seoul Yongsan-gu with 284, Seoul Mapo-gu with 197, and Seoul Seodaemun-gu with 188. The index of dissimilarity (D) from Koreans is 0.53, the isolation index is 0, and interaction with Koreans is 0.961. The highest location quotient (LQ) is in Seoul Yongsan-gu at 22.8, where this nationality is 0.1% of the foreigners in that district. The continent of origin is Europe. The largest age group is 20-24 at 21%, and men are 48.1%. This value alone is based on staying foreigners. Estimated mother tongues are German at 86.8% and Upper Saxon at 2.2%.

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
IndicatorsGermanyAll registered foreignersRelative to total
Registered foreigners3,1681,604,9200.2% of the total
Districts of residence17625070.4% of the total
Index of dissimilarity (D)0.5300.280rank 67 of 107
Isolation index0.00040.045rank 30 of 107
Interaction with Koreans0.9610.955rank 35 of 107
ContinentEurope48,565 (3.0% of the total)6.5% of those from Europe

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.Germany 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
YearGermanyVietnam
20061,33252,157
20071,36667,197
20081,31579,848
20091,45086,166
20101,55098,225
20111,610110,564
20121,736114,211
20131,913113,843
20142,053122,571
20152,088128,042
20162,170137,769
20172,183151,385
20182,217170,707
20192,305187,334
20201,937181,415
20212,404178,928
20223,187196,883
20233,229227,930
20243,114261,581
20253,168293,907
Table 2.Germany nationality, top 10 districts, 2025Unit: persons, %
2025
RankDistrictGermany NationalityShare of local foreigners
1Seoul Yongsan-gu2842.2
2Seoul Mapo-gu1971.7
3Seoul Seodaemun-gu1881.1
4Seoul Dongdaemun-gu1670.8
5Seoul Jung-gu1591.5
6Seoul Gwanak-gu1480.7
7Seoul Seongbuk-gu1170.8
8Seoul Gangnam-gu921.5
9Seoul Jongno-gu860.7
10Seoul Dongjak-gu800.6

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

Note: Nationwide, Germany nationals make up 0.2% 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
RankDistrictGermany NationalityLocation quotient (LQ)Share of local foreigners
1Seoul Yongsan-gu28422.80.1
2Seoul Jung-gu15921.90.1
3Gyeongsangbuk-do Yeongdeok-gun2210.90.1
4Seoul Jongno-gu8610.20.1
5Seoul Seodaemun-gu18810.20.1
6Seoul Mapo-gu1978.90.1
7Seoul Dongdaemun-gu1677.80.0
8Seoul Gwanak-gu1485.00.0
9Seoul Seongbuk-gu1174.50.0
10Busan Geumjeong-gu514.00.0

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 Germany nationality, 2025Unit: persons, %
2025
Visa categoryPersonsShare
Student(D2)1,18237.3
Marriage Migration(F6)52116.4
Working Holiday(H1)2116.7
Permanent Residence(F5)1865.9
Other statuses(ETC)1765.6
Corporate Investment(D8)1334.2
Specially Designated Activities(E7)1324.2
Dependent Family(F3)1324.2
Other statuses49515.6

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

Note: The rows of this table add to 3,168, the whole of the Germany nationality.

Table 5.Age and sex, 2025Unit: persons, %
2025
Age groupTotalMaleFemaleShare
0-415483712.2
5-918794932.6
10-14205911142.9
15-193491432064.9
20-241,49963386621.0
25-291,17144472716.4
30-3477238538710.8
35-395533222317.8
40-444442761686.2
45-493161951214.4
50-543161941224.4
55-593362001364.7
60+83237445811.7

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

Only this table counts all foreign residents, so it totals 7,134 rather than the 3,168 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
200810.80.00.00.015.7
200912.90.00.00.015.0
201015.60.00.04.116.5
201116.50.00.05.016.3
201220.35.00.05.219.6
201322.26.70.05.115.9
201425.37.70.05.115.4
201524.68.30.05.414.6
201627.38.73.75.514.6
201726.69.05.45.916.8
201828.39.16.16.116.8
201930.79.56.96.04.0
202020.114.10.07.77.4
202130.313.20.06.56.3
202237.911.08.85.15.2
202338.512.59.45.14.5
202435.814.77.95.75.0
202537.316.46.75.95.6
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
20140.6050.0000.968
20150.6150.0010.966
20160.6100.0010.965
20170.5960.0010.966
20180.5840.0000.964
20190.5910.0010.963
20200.5580.0000.966
20210.5720.0010.967
20220.5640.0010.965
20230.5660.0010.964
20240.5350.0000.962
20250.5300.0000.961
Table 6.Germany nationality, mother-tongue compositionUnit: %
First languageShare
German86.8
Upper Saxon2.2
Turkish1.5
Arabic1.2
Polish1.0
Romanian0.8
Italian0.7

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, Germany 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
    ProvinceGermany NationalityShare of national
    Seoul1,98162.5
    Gyeonggi-do45214.3
    Busan1474.6
    Incheon1093.4
    Daejeon1063.3
    Daegu632.0
    Gyeongsangbuk-do561.8
    Gyeongsangnam-do471.5
    Gangwon-do311.0
    Ulsan260.8
    Gwangju250.8
    Jeollanam-do240.8
    Jeju-do240.8
    Chungcheongnam-do230.7
    Chungcheongbuk-do230.7
    Jeollabuk-do180.6
    Sejong130.4