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Number of US citizens living in South Korea rises 30 percent in 10 years

July 2, 2015
Hallie Bradley, right, author of the blog “The Soul of Seoul” sits with her husband, guitarist Jung Jae-oo. The couple has implemented “fighting rules” to help handle cultural differences in their marriage. (Courtesy of Hallie Bradley)

As of December last year, there were 136,663 American citizens living in South Korea. (Korea Times file)

By Kim Chul-soo

The number of South Korean residents with U.S. citizenship has increased by 30 percent in the last 10 years, according to Korea’s Ministry of Justice Wednesday.

As of December last year, there were 136,663 American citizens living in South Korea, making up 7.6 percent of all foreigners — 1,797,618 of them — in the country.

In 2005, there were 103,029 American citizens living in Korea.

Chinese citizens made up the majority of foreigners in Korea, at 898,654, followed by Americans, Vietnamese (129,973), Thai (94,314) and Filipino (53,538).

Korea, which had an overall population of 50.2 million in 2013, has seen a rise in foreign residents in recent years, owing to its growth as a major international business player and to the influence of Hallyu.

Foreigners, who made up 1.55 percent of its overall population in 2005, had increased in size to 3.57 percent by 2014.

 

2 Comments

  1. Expat

    July 2, 2015 at 6:54 PM

    “has seen a rise in foreign residents in recent years, owing to its growth as a major international business player and to the influence of Hallyu.”

    C’mon now. At least half of those Americans are English teachers.

    Reply

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