The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) announced the results of a survey conducted with the Migration Research & Training Center (MRTC) on the distribution of foreign nationals living in Seoul using big data to identify the de facto population of areas densely populated by foreign residents for use as reference in making foreign resident support policies.

The city conducted the survey on long-term foreign residents by de facto and de jure population, and analyzed the results of the de facto population for 425 neighborhoods in 25 districts, comparing data collected at 3 AM on 3 PM on Mon, April 4, 2022.

According to the statistical data of the Ministry of Justice, the de jure population of registered foreign residents in Seoul is 336,887 (as of March 2022), but the city’s survey results revealed that the de facto population is 384,036 (as of April 4, 2022).

The de facto population compared to the de jure population, which seems to be mainly concentrated in the southwest region of Seoul, was found to be evenly distributed throughout the city.

As a result of analyzing the de facto population of long-term foreign residents during the day and night across 425 neighborhoods in Seoul, it was confirmed that the de facto population was high in the southwest region (i.e. Guro-gu, Geumcheon-gu, Yeongdeungpo-gu) at night while spread out in various regions (e.g. Seodaemun-gu, Mapo-gu, Jongno-gu, Gwangjin-gu, Gangnam-gu) during the day. In particular, Sinchon-dong in Seodaemun-gu and Seogyo-dong in Mapo-gu appeared to be emerging as a new densely populated area for foreign residents living in Seoul.

Moreover, an additional analysis of the de jure population showed foreign residents’ tendency to form communities by nationality and language with varied distribution of visa status and age group by district.

Seoul will prepare and actively promote policies that are suitable for the de facto population of foreign residents in each district based on the results of this survey.