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Country profile

Korea, Rep.

KR · KOR · East Asia & Pacific

A consolidated migration profile for Korea, Rep.: who arrives, who leaves, how many people are hosted or displaced, and the national context behind those numbers. Every figure below is a reported value from an official source — nothing is estimated or filled in.

CapitalSeoul
RegionEast Asia & Pacific
Subregion—
Population51,684,564
Refugees hosted 4,407 People protected here
Refugees from here — Fled abroad
Migrants living here 1,811,507 Foreign-born stock
Net migration 65,731 Net inflow
Asylum-seekers 39,106 Awaiting a decision
Reporting year 2025 Most recent data
Latest figures · 2025

Key migration numbers

The headline counts for the most recent reporting year. Refugees hosted are people this country protects; asylum-seekers are still awaiting a decision; applications are new asylum claims lodged during the year.

2025Reporting year
4,407Refugees hosted
39,106Asylum-seekers
20,373Applications (year)
Migration balance

Incoming vs outgoing

Annual estimates

Net migration is arrivals minus departures over the year. Positive means more people moved in than out. Migrant stock is the total foreign-born people living here now.

Net migration (year)65,731Net inflow
Migrants living here1,811,507Migrant stock
Missing / dead migrants
No data available
IOM Missing Migrants Project
Historical series

Statistics

Recorded migrant, refugee and asylum populations over time. Each line is one category; gaps mean a year the source did not report a figure (the line bridges the gap rather than dropping to zero).

Population profile

Sex, age, religion & more

How the population breaks down across reported dimensions, grouped by the year each figure was reported (most recent first). Bars show each group’s share of the total; where only headcounts were published, the raw number is shown instead.

Religion

Religious make-up over time

National shares

Share of the population by faith across the recorded years. Each line is a stored national value; nothing is estimated.

0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2020
Christian Muslim Jewish Unaffiliated Other

See the full religion timeline for this country →

Places of worship

Places of worship over time

Recorded counts

No places-of-worship counts are recorded for this country yet. See the Places of worship page for the full picture.

See the full places-of-worship timeline for this country → · browse individual places →

Displaced population by age cohort for the most recent reported year. Age is summed across sexes in the source data, so this is a single series per cohort — not a male/female split.

Displaced population by sex over the reported years, stacked so the top line reads as the total.

Sex

Female 4.1%
Male 10.4%
Unknown 85.5%
Country context

National indicators

Economy

GDP (current US$)1,872,374,961,553.10 USD2025
GDP per capita (current US$)36,226.97 USD2025
Unemployment (% of labour force)2.68 %2025
Personal remittances received (US$)7,070,900,000.00 USD2025
Personal remittances received (% of GDP)0.38 %2025

Population

Population, total51,684,564.00 people2025
Population density529.84 people/km22023

Migration

Net migration65,731.00 people2025
International migrant stock, total1,811,507.00 people2024
International migrant stock (% of population)3.50 %2024

Asylum decisions

Asylum decisions - recognised55.00 people2025
Asylum decisions - rejected10,647.00 people2025
Asylum decisions - otherwise closed6,374.00 people2025
Asylum decisions - total17,108.00 people2025

Durable solutions

Resettlement arrivals56.00 people2025
Naturalisations5.00 people2015

Other

Current health expenditure (% of GDP)8.68 %2024
Life expectancy at birth, total (years)83.63 years2024
Primary completion rate, total (% of relevant age group)102.85 %2024
Gini index32.90 2021
Poverty headcount ratio at $2.15 a day (% of population)0.10 %2021
Context

Migration & quality of life

These charts place migration next to quality-of-life indicators over time. Correlation is not causation — a relationship here does not prove migration caused the change, or that a change caused the migration.

Economy

Gross domestic product

World Bank

GDP (current US$)

$1.87T

Reported 2025

GDP per capita (current US$)

$36,227

Reported 2025

Migrant stock as a share of the population (left axis, in percent) shown against life expectancy (right axis, in years) over the years.

Each point is one year: migrant share of population (x, in percent) versus life expectancy (y, in years).

Public safety

Recorded crime

Not migrant offending

National crime figures for context only — they describe the whole resident population and are not a measure of migrant offending.

Recorded crime by type
rate / 100k where available
CrimeRate / 100k
0.46
Homicide0.48
Public expenditure

Expenses

Migration-related public spending only — Official Development Assistance received and provided (which, for donor countries, includes in-donor refugee costs), in US dollars, stacked so the top line reads as the combined total for each year.

YearAmount (USD)Category
2024$4,145,240,000ODA provided
2023$3,296,490,000ODA provided
2022$2,906,260,000ODA provided
2021$2,997,850,000ODA provided
2020$2,292,780,000ODA provided
2019$2,517,130,000ODA provided
2018$2,423,370,000ODA provided
2017$2,201,350,000ODA provided
2016$2,246,160,000ODA provided
2015$1,915,390,000ODA provided
2014$1,856,730,000ODA provided
2013$1,755,380,000ODA provided
2012$1,597,450,000ODA provided
2011$1,324,590,000ODA provided
2010$1,173,790,000ODA provided
2009$816,040,000ODA provided
2008$802,340,000ODA provided
2007$696,110,000ODA provided
2006$455,250,000ODA provided
2005$752,320,000ODA provided
2004$423,320,000ODA provided
2003$365,910,000ODA provided
2002$278,780,000ODA provided
2001$264,650,000ODA provided
2000$212,070,000ODA provided
1999$-55,099,998ODA received
1999$317,490,000ODA provided
1998$-50,369,999ODA received
1998$182,710,000ODA provided
1997$-159,649,994ODA received
1997$185,610,000ODA provided
1996$-148,899,994ODA received
1996$159,150,000ODA provided
1995$57,000,000ODA received
1995$115,990,000ODA provided
1994$-114,230,003ODA received
1994$140,220,000ODA provided
1993$-35,110,001ODA received
1993$111,560,000ODA provided
1992$-3,100,000ODA received
1992$76,800,000ODA provided
1991$54,419,998ODA received
1991$57,480,000ODA provided
1990$52,279,999ODA received
1990$61,160,000ODA provided
1989$51,669,998ODA received
1989$33,810,000ODA provided
1988$9,280,000ODA received
1988$34,000,000ODA provided
1987$10,660,000ODA received
1987$23,510,000ODA provided
1986$-17,570,000ODA received
1985$-8,820,000ODA received
1984$-36,880,001ODA received
1983$7,640,000ODA received
1982$33,779,999ODA received
1981$330,390,015ODA received
1980$138,710,007ODA received
1979$133,860,001ODA received
1978$164,210,007ODA received
1977$237,179,993ODA received
1976$216,139,999ODA received
1975$247,479,996ODA received
1974$252,039,993ODA received
1973$282,000,000ODA received
1972$365,429,993ODA received
1971$324,510,010ODA received
1970$274,670,013ODA received
1969$338,299,988ODA received
1968$239,630,005ODA received
1967$259,089,996ODA received
1966$230,630,005ODA received
1965$220,490,005ODA received
1964$171,690,002ODA received
1963$262,200,012ODA received
1962$236,210,007ODA received
1961$229,149,994ODA received
1960$250,710,007ODA received
Sources & notes

Figures are consolidated from the UNHCR Refugee Data Finder and the World Bank / UNODC. Only reported values are shown — blanks mean a source did not publish a figure, never a fabricated estimate. Statistics describe recorded populations and movements and should not be read as causal relationships.