Jung Da-hyun is a reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues in Korea, including foreign residents, education, environment and politics. Driven by a deep interest in people’s stories, she focuses on investigative and feature reporting through direct interviews and field coverage. She received the Amnesty International Korea Media Award for her “Deepfake Crisis at Schools” series. Reach her at dahyun08@koreatimes.co.kr. Always open to hearing your stories.
Seoul’s population outflow slows as young residents move in
People wait for taxis at the Seoul Station Bus Transfer Center, Jan. 13. Yonhap
By Jung Da-hyun
Employment opportunities attract young Koreans to capital city
Seoul has consistently seen more people in their 20s and 30s move in than relocate to other regions over the past 24 years, while the overall decline in number of people leaving the capital city has slowed.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government released the data Thursday, based on a comprehensive analysis of population movement into and out of the capital from 2001 to 2024, including migration flows, reasons for relocation and age-specific mobility patterns.
The data shows that Seoul continues to experience a net population outflow, with more people leaving the city than moving in. Still, the scale of the outflow has narrowed: In 2024, the city’s net loss fell to 44,692, less than half the 113,949 recorded in 2001.
Among young adults, the trend has reversed. Since 2019, Seoul has attracted more residents in their 20s and 30s than it has lost. This age group saw a net inflow of about 19,000 in 2019 and has continued to record annual gains, with the sole exception of 2021.
Employment has emerged as an increasingly important factor driving young people to move into Seoul.
Among those relocating to Seoul from neighboring Gyeonggi Province, the share citing jobs as their main reason for moving rose from 24.2 percent in 2013 to 30.6 percent in 2024. Over the same period, the share pointing to housing as a factor fell sharply from 32.5 percent to 20.5 percent.
The shift was particularly pronounced among people in their 20s and 30s, with 39.2 percent citing employment as their reason for moving from Gyeonggi Province to Seoul in 2024, up from 29.8 percent in 2013.
However, the scale of net inflows of young adults has begun to slow. After peaking at about 26,000 in 2022, it fell to roughly 23,000 in 2023 and around 10,000 in 2024, as housing costs have increasingly weighed on migration decisions.
In addition, migration into Seoul has increasingly shifted toward individual moves. In 2024, single-person relocations accounted for 79.8 percent of all moves into the city, up from 57.7 percent in 2001.
Young adults dominated these single-person moves, with those aged 19 to 39 accounting for 68.8 percent. Employment was cited as the most common reason for relocation, accounting for 36.5 percent, followed by family-related reasons at 22.7 percent.
Kang Ok-hyun, director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Digital City Bureau, stated that the focus should be on changes in the purpose and patterns of migration rather than the sheer scale of population inflow.
“As individual-based moves and inflows of young people continue to expand, the city will work to improve the precision of policy analysis and urban strategy development by making greater use of population mobility data,” she said.