SEOUL – South Korea experienced the most significant population mobility in five years this October, with a notable increase in the number of people changing residences. This trend was revealed in recent data released on Wednesday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, approximately 507,000 people moved to different residences in October, an 11 percent rise from the previous year. This increase marked the most significant growth for any October since 2018, when the figure surged by 20.5 percent. The spike in population mobility was partly driven by a 48.7 percent increase in house transactions in August and September compared to the same period last year.
Another contributing factor was the low base effect, as the number of people changing residences in October 2022 had sharply dropped below the 500,000 mark for the first time since 1974. The population mobility rate, which measures the percentage of those relocating per 100 people, reached 11.7 percent last month, up 1.2 percentage points from the previous year.
Regionally, Seoul witnessed a net outflow of 4,727 people, while Gyeonggi Province and Incheon saw net inflows of 3,129 and 3,002 residents, respectively. Meanwhile, Busan and Gwangju reported net outflows of 1,199 and 714 people, respectively.