Korean Population Keeps Clustering Around Seoul

More and more Koreans are flocking to the Seoul metropolitan area, with tentative results of the 2010 census announced Tuesday indicating that almost half of the population is now concentrated there.

But urban concentration in Seoul is easing. As of Nov. 1, 23.17 million people lived in the metropolitan region, accounting for 49 percent of the total population of 48.22 million. Urban concentration in Seoul area has been burgeoning over the last decade, with the region accounting for 46.3 percent in 2000 and 48.2 percent in 2005, when the Roh Moo-hyun administration sought to pursue more balanced regional growth.

The population fans out into new satellite towns while crowding in the capital is easing. Gyeonggi Province and the port city of Incheon are seeing increased concentrations of people. "Populations have increased in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province and other areas that have seen new towns built since 2005," said Kang Chang-ik of Statistics Korea. "It seems that many businesses and factories that offer jobs have remained in the metropolitan area" instead of relocating to the provinces.

The population of Seoul City stands at 9.71 million, accounting for 20.1 percent of the total and a drop from 21.4 percent in 2000. In contrast, the population of Gyeonggi Province is 11.27 million, 23.4 percent of the total, and that of Incheon 2.64 million, accounting for 5.5 percent. In 2000, Gyeonggi Province was home to 19.5 percent of the population and Incheon for 5.4 percent.

There were 8.67 million apartments, accounting for 58.3 percent of all 14.88 million homes nationwide.