SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Yonhap) – The number of immigrants in South Korea, including naturalized citizens, rose some 10 percent in 2023 from a year earlier, government data showed Monday.

The number of immigrants aged 15 and above reached 1.48 million as of May, compared with 1.35 million tallied a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.

Foreign nationals accounted for 1.43 million, up 9.8 percent on-year, with naturalized citizens taking up 51,000, down 1,000 over the period.

Among foreigners, ethnic Koreans with Chinese nationality accounted for 472,000, down 7,000 from a year earlier. Those from Vietnam came to 201,000, up 32,000 over the period, the data showed.

The data showed 64.5 percent of foreign nationals residing in South Korea had jobs as of May, down 0.3 percentage point from a year earlier. Naturalized citizens held a comparable figure of 67.4 percent, up 2.1 percentage points over the period.

Around 33 percent of foreigners made a monthly income from 2 million won (US$1,535) to 3 million won, with 24.4 percent making more than 3 million won.

The data also showed that 37.5 percent of foreigners with income in South Korea sent cash to their families and relatives abroad this year, up 2.1 percentage points from the previous year.

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