The number of foreign residents registered at the Ministry of the Interior rapidly increased from 0.72 million in 2006 to 1.74 million in 2014 (0.90 million males and 0.84 million females, 3.4% of total population). Regionally, the Greater Seoul Metropolitan area, particularly Geumcheon-gu and Guro-gu in Seoul and Ansan in Gyeonggi-do, accommodates the majority of the foreign resi- dents who are in Korea for employment, while the rural areas are home to marriage immigrants.

Regarding citizenship, about 79% of foreign residents (1.38 million) are “without Korean cit-

izenship.” Those “who obtained Korean citizen- ship” account for about 9.1% (0.16 million), and the “foreign resident children” account for about 11.9% (0.21 million). Among the foreign resi- dents “without Korean citizenship,” about 35% (0.61 million) were foreign workers, followed by marriage immigrants (9% or 0.15 million), and students studying in Korea (5% or 0.08 million). Geographically, about 63.3% of all foreign resi- dents live in the Greater Seoul Metropolitan area, including Gyeonggi-do (0.55 million), Seoul (0.46 million), and Incheon (0.09 million).