Multicultural families

Foreign residents counted by MOIS in 2024 numbered 2,583,626 people.
Of these, people without Korean nationality number 2,042,744, people who have acquired Korean nationality 245,578, and children of foreign residents 295,304 people.
The district with the most children is Hwaseong-si (6,397), and counts are reported for 252 districts.
Multicultural households in 2024 were counted across 3,549 sub-districts, and the total is 1,239,443 people.
The composition is children born in Korea 292,665 persons, other cohabitant (Korean) 282,782, naturalized citizens and others 226,679, in that order.
The sub-district with the most is Hyangnam-eup, Hwaseong-si (5,741).

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

Note: Children by age and multicultural households are both for 2024. Cities that contain general districts (gu) also appear as a city-level row, and those rows are excluded from the totals. The age table sums to 315,250, which differs from the 295,304 children in the population table. The two tables agreed through 2015 and diverge from 2016, and the source data gives no reason. Totals come from the population table and the age distribution from the age table.

Table 1.Foreign resident categories, 2024Unit: persons, %

Year

Category		Persons	Share of total

Source: MOIS Status of Foreign Residents in Local Governments.

Note: People who have acquired Korean nationality and their children are included, so the coverage differs from registered foreigners.

Figure 1.Children of foreign residents by age, 2024Unit: persons

Year

Source: MOIS Status of Foreign Residents in Local Governments.

Note: This table sums to 315,250, which differs from the 295,304 in the population table.

View as table

Age		Persons

Table 2.Top 20 districts by children of foreign residents (MOIS), 2024Unit: persons

Year

Rank	District	Province		Children

Source: MOIS Status of Foreign Residents in Local Governments.

Note: Counted in 252 districts. City-level rows for cities that contain general districts (gu) are excluded.

Figure 2.Foreign residents (MOIS) over time, 2006–2024Unit: 10,000 persons

Source: MOIS Status of Foreign Residents in Local Governments.

Note: People who have acquired Korean nationality and their children are counted together, so the figure is larger than registered foreigners.

View as table

Year	Foreign residents	Change from previous year

Table 3.Multicultural household composition, 2024Unit: persons, %

Year

Composition		Persons	Share of total

Source: MOIS Status of Multicultural Households by Sub-district.

Note: Subtotal items duplicate other rows and are excluded.

Table 4.20 sub-districts with the most multicultural households, 2024Unit: persons

Year

Rank	Sub-district	District		Total

Source: MOIS Status of Multicultural Households by Sub-district.