KIRD Immigrant statistics in Korea 한국어

By region

Gangwon-do Hwacheon-gun

Registered foreigners in Hwacheon-gun number 308, which is 1.38% of the resident-registration population of 22,371. That is below both the national average of 3.13% and the Gangwon-do average of 1.96%. It ranks 203 among the 250 districts. Within Gangwon-do it ranks 15 of 18. Over the past 10 years, registered foreigners rose from 211 in 2015 to 308, an increase of about 46%. 23 nationalities are counted, and the three largest are Vietnam at 19.5%, Nepal at 16.6%, and Cambodia at 15.3%. Shannon diversity (H) is 2.416, below the national 2.607, and ranks 78 of 250 districts. Within Gangwon-do it ranks 9. By continent of origin, diversity is 0.079, below the national 0.127. It ranks 179 of 250 districts. Southeast Asia accounts for 55.5% and South Asia for 19.5%, and the two together are 75%. Language demand estimated from the nationality composition is highest for Vietnamese, then Khmer, then Nepali.

Foreign residents (MOIS) numbered 821 in 2024, which is 3.7% of the resident-registration population of 22,278. Of these, 564 do not hold Republic of Korea nationality, 95 have acquired nationality, and 162 are children of foreign residents. By type, other foreigners number 354, foreign workers 126, Marriage migrants 64, and overseas Koreans with foreign nationality 20. Children of foreign residents number 162, which ranks 249 among 252 districts and is 19.7% of foreign residents in this district. Among the 303 people with a known status of stay, the most common are Non-professional Employment (E9) with 128 people at 42.2%, Marriage Migration (F6) with 52 at 17.2%, and Seasonal Worker (E8) with 43 at 14.2%. Organizations that support immigrants number 1 in this district, or 32.5 per 10,000 registered foreigners.

Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook on Immigration and Foreign Policy 2025 (registered foreigners by district, by nationality, and by status of stay), MOIS Status of Foreign Residents in Local Governments 2024, MOIS Resident Registration Population Statistics 2025. The diversity indices and location quotients were calculated from the open dataset. The list of support organizations was compiled by this site. DOI 10.3886/E249944V1

Table 1.Key indicators and benchmarks, 2025Unit: persons, %, index
IndicatorsHwacheon-gunGangwon-doNationalVs national

Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook (registered foreigners by district), MOIS Resident Registration Population Statistics.

Note: H is the Shannon diversity index. The number of nationalities is counted from the district-by-nationality table in all three columns: the province value is the union over that province's districts and the national value is the union over the 250 districts. The yearbook began listing every nationality at the district level in 2014, so counts before that year are cut to the top 19 plus other. The national value is based on the 1,601,452 people allocated to districts and differs from the national total of 1,604,725.

Figure 1.Foreign share over time, 2008–2025Unit: %

Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook each year.

View as table
YearHwacheon-gunGangwon-doNational
Table 2.Registered foreigners by nationality, 2025Unit: persons, %
NationalityRegistered foreignersHwacheon-gun ShareGangwon-doNational

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

Note: Korean-Chinese and China together come to 59.6%. Gangwon-do and the national columns give the share of that nationality among registered foreigners in each area.

Table 3.Top 10 languages by estimated demand, 2025Unit: persons, %
RankLanguageEstimated countShare

Source: An estimate that applies the first-language shares of Ethnologue first-language shares, with Korean excluded.

Note: Only the top 20 languages are calculated for this district, so the shares are shares within those 20. They are used in setting interpretation priorities.

Table 4.Registered foreigners by status of stay, 2025Unit: persons, %
Visa categoryRegistered foreignersHwacheon-gun ShareNational

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

Note: The national column is the share the same status holds among registered foreigners nationwide in that year. Status is known for 37,801 people, 491 fewer than the 38,292 registered foreigners. The national distribution by status is in By status of stay.

Table 5.Types of foreign residents, 2024Unit: persons, %
TypePersonsShare

Source: MOIS Status of Foreign Residents in Local Governments 2024.

Note: This table alone uses the MOIS definition, so the total is 76,404 and covers a different population from the 38,292 MOJ registered foreigners. Adding the two counts the same person twice.

Table 6.Immigrant support organizations, count and density, 2026Unit: count
ScopeOrganizationsor, per 10,000 registered foreigners,

Source: List of immigrant support organizations compiled by this site.

Note: the total number of organizations and its distribution are in Service map. A count of organizations is not a measure of how much service there is, and the size and scope of each one are not in this list.

Table 7.Gangwon-do Hwacheon-gun immigrant support organizations, 2026

Source: List of immigrant support organizations compiled by this site.

Note: Only organizations with an address in this district that serve people directly, that have not closed or gone dormant, and that have a website or social media account confirmed as their own are listed. An organization missing any one of the four does not appear, so one you know of may be absent. Table 6 counts only the categories used for the density figure, so the two numbers can differ. Organizations are ordered by the number of services they provide, and by name where that is the same. Organizations with no address on record come last. The full list and its filters are in the Service map.

Figure 2.Composition of foreign residents by type over timeUnit: %

Source: MOIS Status of Foreign Residents in Local Governments each year.

Note: The share of each type among foreign residents in this district in that year. Table 5 gives counts for a single year and this figure gives the composition year by year. Values can break in years when district boundaries changed. Types are set by dividing the work, study, and marriage shares among foreign residents without Korean nationality by the national benchmark (38%, 16%, 15%).

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Year
Table 8.Gangwon-do Hwacheon-gun indicators and benchmarks, 2025Unit: index, rank
IndicatorsThis district Gangwon-do AverageNationalRank

Source: Open dataset, indicators calculated from it.

Note: Shannon diversity (H) measures how evenly nationalities are mixed, and a higher value means several nationalities of similar size. HHI moves the other way and rises as one or two nationalities dominate. Evenness rescales H to a range of 0 to 1. The rank is the position among the 250 districts ordered from the largest. The province column treats the whole province as one unit. It differs from the mean of the district values.

Figure 3.Indicators over time, 2008–2025Unit: index
Indicators

Source: Open dataset, indicators calculated from it.

Note: This district, its province, and the national value share one axis. The province and national values are for the same year. Values can break in years when district boundaries changed.

View as table
Year Hwacheon-gunGangwon-doNational
Table 9.Continent of origin, composition and concentration, 2025Unit: %
ContinentShare

Source: Open dataset, indicators calculated from it.