International students enjoy the event of International Day at Ajou University in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Nov. 9, 2023. Newsis

The number of long-term foreign residents in Korea increased to an all-time high of nearly 2.5 million last year, due to a steep rise in migrant workers and international students, the interior ministry said Thursday.

There were 2,459,542 foreign residents staying in the country for at least three months as of Nov. 1, 2023, the ministry said, citing data from Statistics Korea's population census.

This is the highest number since such statistics were first published in 2006. The number stood at 2.26 million a year earlier.

The long-term foreign residents accounted for 4.8 percent of the nation's total population of 51.77 million, the ministry said, adding the size of the foreign population was similar to those of North Gyeongsang Province (2.59 million) and Daegu (2.38 million).

In detail, the number of foreign residents who did not have Korean nationality increased 10.4 percent to about 1.94 million, and those with Korean nationality increased 4.8 percent to 234,506, it noted. The number of children of foreign residents born in Korea increased 2.8 percent, or 7,809, to 289,886.

In particular, it is notable that the number of migrant workers and international students increased by 16.6 percent and 8.9 percent, respectively, to 67,111 and 16,932, compared with statistics of the previous year, the ministry said.

By region, the number of foreign residents in all provinces and metropolitan cities, except Seoul, increased by more than 7 percent. Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul has the largest foreign population of 809,801, followed by Seoul (449,014) and Incheon (160,859). In other words, 57.8 percent of foreign residents live in the capital area.

By district, Ansan of Gyeonggi Province has the most foreign population of 108,033, followed by Hwaseong (76,711), Siheung (74,653), Suwon (71,392) and Bucheon (58,632), the ministry said. (Yonhap)