Record low of South Korean emigrants during 2014

On Friday, Seoul’s foreign ministry said that during 2014, the number of emigrants from South Korea fell to a record low. This was due to improving living standards in the forth-largest economy in Asia.

According to the foreign ministry’s data, the number of emigrants from South Korea dropped from 302 in 2013 to 249 in 2014. This number is the lowest it has been since records started in 1962, however this data doesn’t include international adoption rates of Korean children.

Some 177 Koreans immigrated to the USA, which ranks as the top destination. Canada and Australia are the next most popular destinations, with 22 and 16 Koreans moving there respectively.

Since 1976, emigration had been rising significantly due to the prospect of better life in foreign countries. Industrialization then quickly hit the country in the 1970’s after it started to recover from the 1950-53 Korean War.

Since that time, the number of emigrants has been falling dramatically and in 2003, data shows the rate finally fell below the 10,000 mark with only 9,509 citizens deciding to live and work abroad.

According to officials, the shrinking of the economic gap between other major countries and South Korea has helped the number of emigrants to decline. South Korea’s economy was ranked the world’s 13th-largest in 2014, with a growth rate of 3.3 per cent from the previous year