Ethnic Koreans account for about 39 percent of the population of the northeastern Chinese province of Yanbian, Chinese government statistics showed Thursday.
Korean-Chinese residents formed the second-largest ethnic group in the prefecture with 38.8 percent last year, equivalent to some 840,000, following Han Chinese, with 58.3 percent, the Yanbian government said.
The total population in Yanbian was about 2.18 million.
In 1952, when the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture was established, ethnic Koreans accounted for 62 percent of the population, with an estimated 111 million people.
Ethnic Koreans are one of the 55 ethnic minority groups officially recognized in China.
The term "ethnic minorities" in China refers to the non-Han Chinese population. Han Chinese constitute 92 percent of China's total population.
Earlier on Monday, the Korean autonomous prefecture marked the 60th anniversary of its founding.
The prefecture is the largest region where ethnic Koreans live in compact communities and the only minority prefecture in northeast China.
The prefecture borders North Korea in the south across the Tumen River.
In 2011, Yanbian's gross domestic product hit 65.2 billion yuan ($10.24 billion), growing 61 times from the figure in 1952. (Yonhap)