Credit: Public domain.
According to the OECD International Migration Outlook 2024 report, released November 14, South Korea saw a 50.9% increase in immigration between 2022 and 2023, the second highest rate of increase behind the United Kingdom, where immigration increased by 52.9% in the same period. China, Vietnam, Thailand, Uzbekistan and the United States were the top sources of immigrants to South Korea.
Rate of increase notwithstanding, the absolute number of immigrants to South Korea remains small. In 2022, South Korea admitted 57.8k immigrants; in 2023, 87.1k. In comparison, Spain and Italy, both of which have similar population sizes as South Korea, admitted 364.1k and 208.2k immigrants in 2023, respectively.