Registered foreigners are counted across 192 nationalities.
In 2025 Korea had 1,604,920 registered foreign residents from 192 nationalities. The largest were Vietnam (293,907, 18.3%), Korean-Chinese (251,037, 15.6%), China (226,628, 14.1%), Nepal (89,521, 5.6%), Uzbekistan (69,317, 4.3%). Picking a nationality above, in the table below or in the nationality index opens its report.
Table. The 30 largest nationalities, 2025
| Rank | Nationality | Registered foreign residents | Share (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vietnam | 293,907 | 18.3 |
| 2 | Korean-Chinese | 251,037 | 15.6 |
| 3 | China | 226,628 | 14.1 |
| 4 | Nepal | 89,521 | 5.6 |
| 5 | Uzbekistan | 69,317 | 4.3 |
| 6 | Cambodia | 65,220 | 4.1 |
| 7 | Indonesia | 62,021 | 3.9 |
| 8 | Myanmar | 58,016 | 3.6 |
| 9 | Philippines | 54,866 | 3.4 |
| 10 | Thailand | 45,892 | 2.9 |
| 11 | Mongolia | 42,049 | 2.6 |
| 12 | United States | 37,027 | 2.3 |
| 13 | Sri Lanka | 36,951 | 2.3 |
| 14 | Bangladesh | 32,407 | 2.0 |
| 15 | Japan | 29,350 | 1.8 |
| 16 | Russia | 22,138 | 1.4 |
| 17 | Kazakhstan | 20,009 | 1.2 |
| 18 | Pakistan | 17,395 | 1.1 |
| 19 | Taiwan | 17,187 | 1.1 |
| 20 | India | 15,837 | 1.0 |
| 21 | Laos | 11,543 | 0.7 |
| 22 | Kyrgyzstan | 9,170 | 0.6 |
| 23 | France | 5,552 | 0.3 |
| 24 | Malaysia | 5,406 | 0.3 |
| 25 | United Kingdom | 5,254 | 0.3 |
| 26 | South Africa | 4,979 | 0.3 |
| 27 | Timor-Leste | 4,679 | 0.3 |
| 28 | Canada | 4,602 | 0.3 |
| 29 | Türkiye | 3,477 | 0.2 |
| 30 | Germany | 3,168 | 0.2 |
Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook on Immigration and Foreign Policy 2025 (registered foreigners by nationality)
| Indicators | Vietnam | All registered foreigners | Relative to total |
|---|
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.
Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook, each year.
Note: The vertical scale resets to the size of the selected nationality.
| Year | Vietnam | Korean-Chinese |
|---|
| Rank | District | Vietnam Nationality | Share of local foreigners |
|---|
Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook (registered foreigners by district and nationality).
Note: Nationwide, Vietnam nationality is 18.3% of all registered foreigners, so a district where the share among its foreigners is above this has relatively many of them.
| Rank | District | Vietnam Nationality | Location quotient (LQ) | Share of local foreigners |
|---|
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.
| Visa category | Persons | Share |
|---|
Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook (registered foreigners by status of stay and nationality).
Note: Every row of this table adds to 293,907, all registered foreigners of Vietnam nationality.
| Age group | Total | Male | Female | Share |
|---|
Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook (staying foreigners by nationality and age).
This table alone uses staying foreigners, so its total is 337,183 and differs from the 293,907 registered foreigners
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.
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.
| Year |
|---|
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.
| Year | Index of dissimilarity (D) | Isolation index | Interaction with Koreans |
|---|
| First language | Share |
|---|
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.
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.
| Province | Vietnam Nationality | Share of national |
|---|