KIRD Immigrant statistics in Korea 한국어

By region

Seoul Geumcheon-gu

Registered foreigners in Geumcheon-gu number 14,257, which is 6.38% of the resident-registration population of 223,290. That is above both the national average of 3.13% and the Seoul average of 2.98%. It ranks 28 among the 250 districts. Within Seoul it ranks 4 of 25. Over the past 10 years, registered foreigners fell from 19,883 in 2015 to 14,257, a decrease of about 28.3%. 86 nationalities are counted, and the three largest are Korean-Chinese at 64%, China at 20.5%, and Vietnam at 3.6%. Shannon diversity (H) is 1.286, below the national 2.607, and ranks 248 of 250 districts. Within Seoul it ranks 23. By continent of origin, diversity is 0.057, below the national 0.127. It ranks 208 of 250 districts. East Asia accounts for 87.4% and Southeast Asia for 7.2%, and the two together are 94.6%. The location quotient (LQ) for Korean-Chinese is 8.3, and this one nationality is 64% of the foreigners in the district. Language demand estimated from the nationality composition is highest for Chinese, then Vietnamese, then Mongolian.

Foreign residents (MOIS) numbered 31,444 in 2024, which is 12.9% of the resident-registration population of 243,662. Of these, 25,586 do not hold Republic of Korea nationality, 4,342 have acquired nationality, and 1,516 are children of foreign residents. By type, overseas Koreans with foreign nationality number 12,254, other foreigners 7,436, foreign workers 3,496, and Marriage migrants 2,087. Children of foreign residents number 1,516, which ranks 64 among 252 districts and is 4.8% of foreign residents in this district. Among the 14,225 people with a known status of stay, the most common are Permanent Residence (F5) with 5,888 people at 41.4%, Visiting Employment (H2) with 3,035 at 21.3%, and Marriage Migration (F6) with 1,281 at 9%. Organizations that support immigrants number 8 in this district, or 5.6 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
IndicatorsGeumcheon-guSeoulNationalVs 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
YearGeumcheon-guSeoulNational
Table 2.Registered foreigners by nationality, 2025Unit: persons, %
NationalityRegistered foreignersGeumcheon-gu ShareSeoulNational

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

Note: Korean-Chinese and China together come to 59.6%. Seoul 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 foreignersGeumcheon-gu 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.Seoul Geumcheon-gu 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.Seoul Geumcheon-gu indicators and benchmarks, 2025Unit: index, rank
IndicatorsThis district Seoul 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 Geumcheon-guSeoulNational
Table 9.Continent of origin, composition and concentration, 2025Unit: %
ContinentShare

Source: Open dataset, indicators calculated from it.