English

Acquisition of nationality

In 2025, nationality cases processed totaled 45,006. These were Naturalization (11,344), Restoration of nationality (4,037), Loss of nationality (20,988) and Renunciation (4,014). 104 former nationalities are counted, and the largest is United States (22,608). Naturalization is divided by requirement into General naturalization, Simplified naturalization and Special naturalization; Acquired by family, by which a child acquires nationality with a parent, is counted separately.

Source: Ministry of Justice, Korea Immigration Service Statistics 2025, nationality statistics.

Note: The annual table runs from 2011 to 2025. Types that gain nationality and types that lose it sit in one table, so the total is not a count of naturalized people.

Table 1.Types of nationality cases, 2025Unit: cases, %

Year 2025

Type	Cases	Share of total
Total	45,006	100.0
Naturalization	11,344	25.2
Restoration	4,037	9.0
Nationality determination	244	0.5
Loss of nationality	20,988	46.6
Renunciation	4,014	8.9
Acquisition (recognition)	611	1.4
Re-acquisition	59	0.1
Nationality choice	3,500	7.8
Nationality retention	209	0.5

Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook on Immigration and Foreign Policy.

Note: Types of acquiring and losing nationality appear together in one table.

Figure 1.Nationality cases, 2011–2025Unit: thousand cases

Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook on Immigration and Foreign Policy, each year.

Note: Naturalization and restoration of nationality are gains; loss of nationality and renunciation are losses.

View as table

Year	Naturalization	Restoration	Loss of nationality	Renunciation
2011	16,090	2,265	21,473	1,324
2012	10,540	1,987	17,641	823
2013	11,270	2,686	19,413	677
2014	11,314	2,886	18,150	1,322
2015	10,924	2,609	16,595	934
2016	10,108	2,303	35,257	1,147
2017	10,086	2,775	19,363	1,905
2018	11,556	2,698	26,607	6,986
2019	9,914	2,443	22,078	2,461
2020	13,885	1,764	25,034	3,651
2021	10,895	2,742	21,271	4,308
2022	10,248	3,043	25,425	3,261
2023	10,346	4,203	25,399	3,903
2024	11,008	3,607	22,887	3,607
2025	11,344	4,037	20,988	4,014

Table 2.Top 20 nationalities by cases, 2025Unit: cases

Year 2024

Rank	Nationality	Total	General naturalization	Simplified naturalization	Special naturalization	Acquired by family	Restoration of nationality
1	United States	23,319	0	7	0	0	2,298
2	Korean-Chinese	8,786	1,691	1,319	806	518	53
3	Vietnam	6,132	14	2,590	278	69	20
4	China	4,104	258	560	377	720	39
5	Canada	3,524	0	1	1	0	610
6	Australia	2,045	0	1	0	0	133
7	Japan	1,525	1	16	7	0	113
8	Taiwan	943	60	246	57	4	32
9	Philippines	823	0	259	22	3	9
10	New Zealand	804	0	0	0	0	95
11	Cambodia	657	2	296	8	1	1
12	Russia	475	6	54	29	12	26
13	Thailand	437	0	124	18	6	4
14	Korean-Russian	362	6	33	7	6	11
15	United Kingdom	312	0	3	0	0	24
16	Germany	281	0	1	0	0	24
17	Uzbekistan	248	22	64	11	10	8
18	Brazil	230	0	0	0	1	13
19	Mongolia	196	2	62	15	2	7
20	Singapore	160	0	0	0	0	1

Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook on Immigration and Foreign Policy, each year (nationality processing by former nationality and type).

Note: each yearbook carries its own year's table, so the series runs annually from 2009.

Table 3.Cases by age group, 2025Unit: cases

Year 2024

Age group	Total	General naturalization	Simplified naturalization	Special naturalization	Acquired by family	Restoration of nationality
0-9	3,465	0	0	290	874	39
10-19	7,688	2	0	369	508	67
20-29	8,946	39	1,503	191	0	45
30-39	9,682	691	2,382	481	0	58
40-49	7,458	538	935	206	0	55
50-59	6,956	406	489	96	0	115
60-69	8,306	372	402	34	0	1,895
70-79	3,473	46	140	4	0	1,058
80-89	766	1	7	2	0	249
90+	155	0	0	0	0	26

Source: MOJ Statistical Yearbook on Immigration and Foreign Policy, each year (nationality processing by age and type).

Note: ten-year age bands, exactly as the yearbook publishes them.