27,000 Flee from Seoul

During the third quarter of this year (July-September), the population movement from Seoul to new cities such as Yong-In and Pa-Ju was remarkable due to the sharp rise of rent, and the increase of the newly-built apartments in new cities. And the gravitation of the population toward the metropolitan area has accelerated.

`The Third Quarter Population Movement Survey` released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed that Seoul marked the decline of 27,000 population, which was the largest in the nation during the third quarter of this year. On the other hand, the Kyunggi Province witnessed the largest population increase of 66,000 in the same period.

The movement of the population totaled 2,228,000, increased by 10.9 percent (207,000) from the same period last year. And the population mobility rate (mobility per 100 population) also rose by 4 percent year-to-year to reach 4.4 percent.

Among 232 regional units (city, gun, gu), 72 regions recorded the increase of the population, and Yong-In and Pa-Ju in Kyunggi Province led all others in population growth, marking the increase of 17,524 and 10,549 respectively. On the whole, among top-10 regions that recorded the excess of the population inflow, 9 regions belonged to the Kyunggi Province. For Seoul, on the contrary, 7 regions were included in top-20 regions that marked the excess of the population outflow in the nation.

In particular, 68.7 percent of people who moved out of Seoul moved in Kyunggi Province, and 56 percent of people who moved out of Kyunggi Province moved in Seoul, showing that the mutual convergence of population movement between Seoul and Kyunggi Province.

The net inflow into the metropolitan area (including Seoul, Incheon and Kyunggi Province) totaled 40,000 people, increased not only from the same period last year (35,000), but also from the second quarter this year (26,000). This means that more population has been concentrated on the metropolitan area. The region that most contributed to the population growth in the Seoul, Incheon and Kyunggi Province was Chunnam Province (10,000), followed by Chunbuk Province (6,000), Pusan City (5,000) and Kyungbuk Province (3,000).

An NSO official analyzed, "The high population movement can be attributed to the sharp rise of the housing rents and the completion of new apartment complexes in new cities around Seoul during the third quarter this year."

Joong-Hyun Park sanjuck@donga.com