By Kim Rahn Staff Reporter Residents in South Korea surpassed 50 million for the first time, making it the world's 24th largest country by population. The population goes above 73 million if North Koreans are included, pushing a unified Korea to be the 18th largest nation. The Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs said Sunday that more than 50.1 million people were residing in Korea as of October. The figure included 49.1 million people registered as residents (24.6 million males and 24.5 million females), 624,377 foreigners, and 268,845 without resident registration. The last group is made up of those whose registration was cancelled after ward authorities found they did not live at their registered residence. Many of them are hiding to avoid creditors after failing to pay off debts. ``The resident population has surpassed 50 million for the first time since the nation's foundation in 1948. It is the 24th largest among the 194 nations,'' a ministry official said. About 1.1 percent of the world's total population lives on the Korean Peninsula. The world's population was estimated at 6.6 billion in July. It took 15 years for the population to grow from 30 million to 40 million, but it took 23 years to move from 40 million to 50 million. The population grew by 202,306 in the first 10 months this year, which is similar to last year's total of 209,505. ``The large increase was attributable to an increase in marriage in 2006, which was considered as a lucky year to tie the knot, and an increase in births in 2007, which was believed to bring good luck to babies born that year,'' the official said. Some 48 percent of the total population, or 23.9 million, lived in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province. The number of people aged 19 and over, who can vote at the presidential election in December, is 37.8 million. rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr