Seoul was once known as the “City of 10 Million”, but currently, its population has declined to less than 9.4 million. The reason behind this decline is a net outflow of over 800,000 individuals over the previous decade, due to expensive housing prices.
According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s resident registration demographics on Feb. 5. Seoul’s population stood at 9.38 million at the end of last year. Ten years ago, at the end of 2013, the number was 10.14 million. Seoul’s population dropped below 10 million in 2016, and again below 9.5 million in 2022.
Between 2014 and 2023, 5.47 million individuals moved from Seoul to other provinces like Busan, Incheon, and Gyeonggi. On the other hand, 4.61 million people relocated to Seoul from different provinces. As a result, there was a net outflow of 861,000 people from Seoul to other regions.
The primary reason for people moving out of Seoul was housing, which accounted for 1.74 million individuals. This indicates that most people relocated because they either purchased a house in another area or their rental lease had expired. In contrast, 972,000 individuals moved to Seoul due to housing-related reasons. Housing issues caused 769,000 people to leave Seoul over the decade, with “high housing prices” being the main reason for the exodus.
According to the Korea Real Estate Board, the average transaction price of an apartment in Seoul from January to November last year was 13.97 million won per square meter, which means 1.15 billion won is needed to buy an 82 square meter apartment in Seoul.
The exodus from Seoul was mainly to Gyeonggi and Incheon. In the last 10 years, 3.4 million people moved from Seoul to Gyeonggi, the highest number nationwide. Among them,1.36 million people moved for housing prices, more than other major reasons, such as family matters(888,000) and job(680,000).
The number of people moving from Seoul to Incheon was 427,000, second only to Gyeonggi. Of the 1.74 million people who left Seoul due to housing issues, 86.8% (1.52 million) headed to Gyeonggi and Incheon. 148,000 people cited housing problems as the reason for their move.
