Registered foreigners in Geoje-si number 16,505, which is 7.14% of the resident-registration population of 231,178. That is above both the national average of 3.13% and the Gyeongsangnam-do average of 3.52%. It ranks 17 among the 250 districts. Within Gyeongsangnam-do it ranks 2 of 22. Over the past 10 years, registered foreigners rose from 15,051 in 2015 to 16,505, an increase of about 9.7%. 94 nationalities are counted, and the three largest are Vietnam at 24.8%, Indonesia at 12.2%, and Uzbekistan at 10.6%. Shannon diversity (H) is 2.415, below the national 2.607, and ranks 79 of 250 districts. Within Gyeongsangnam-do it ranks 7. By continent of origin, diversity is 0.331, above the national 0.127. It ranks 11 of 250 districts. Southeast Asia accounts for 51% and South Asia for 17.9%, and the two together are 68.9%. Language demand estimated from the nationality composition is highest for Vietnamese, then Indonesian, then Uzbek.
Foreign residents (MOIS) numbered 19,021 in 2024, which is 7.9% of the resident-registration population of 241,284. Of these, 16,218 do not hold Republic of Korea nationality, 1,005 have acquired nationality, and 1,798 are children of foreign residents. By type, foreign workers number 8,914, other foreigners 4,932, overseas Koreans with foreign nationality 1,217, and Marriage migrants 859. Children of foreign residents number 1,798, which ranks 42 among 252 districts and is 9.5% of foreign residents in this district. Among the 16,411 people with a known status of stay, the most common are Specially Designated Activities (E7) with 5,323 people at 32.4%, Non-professional Employment (E9) with 4,713 at 28.7%, and Dependent Family (F3) with 1,525 at 9.3%. Organizations that support immigrants number 5 in this district, or 3 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
| Indicators | Geoje-si | Gyeongsangnam-do | National | Vs national |
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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.
Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook each year.
| Year | Geoje-si | Gyeongsangnam-do | National |
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| Nationality | Registered foreigners | Geoje-si Share | Gyeongsangnam-do | National |
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Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook (registered foreigners by district and nationality).
Note: Korean-Chinese and China together come to 59.6%. Gyeongsangnam-do and the national columns give the share of that nationality among registered foreigners in each area.
| Rank | Language | Estimated count | Share |
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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.
| Visa category | Registered foreigners | Geoje-si Share | National |
|---|
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.
| Type | Persons | Share |
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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.
| Scope | Organizations | or, 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.
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.
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%).
| Year |
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| Indicators | This district | Gyeongsangnam-do Average | National | Rank |
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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.
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.
| Year | Geoje-si | Gyeongsangnam-do | National |
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| Continent | Share |
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Source: Open dataset, indicators calculated from it.
| District | Registered foreigners | Share of population |
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Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook and Resident Registration Population Statistics. Select a district to open its report.