An Overview of International Migration to South Korea

Abstract

South Korea has undergone extremely rapid transformation in many areas — demographic, economic, political, social and cultural — during the past six decades. Its Gross National Product (GNP) per person increased from US$79 in 1960 to US$22,582 in 2012. The total fertility rate dropped from 6.0 in 1960 to 2.06 or around the replacement level in 1983, then reached its lowest level of 1.23 in 2010, rising slightly to 1.24 in 2011. Meanwhile, the proportion of the Korean population aged 65 years and over has increased considerably from 3.3 per cent in 1960 to 11.3 per cent in 2010. Statistics Korea (KNSO, 2011) predicts that the population proportion of people of economically productive age (15–64 years) will begin to decline from 2018 due to an ageing population and low fertility.