seoul's Population; past, present and future
Seoul's current population is 10.14 million, however this is only for the city proper area. In the Seoul metropolitan area there are 25.8 million people, making it the world's third biggest metropolitan area, behind Tokyo and Jakarta. Half of South Korea's population lives in the Seoul Capital area. Seoul's current population is, in fact, lower than it was in 1992 when Seoul reached its population peak of 10.97 million people, but has been declining since due to low child birth rates. By 2025, the population is expected to have dropped to 9.87 million. The population density in Seoul is 17,255 people per square km, almost twice the population density of New York.
Who lives in Seoul
Most of the people living in Seoul are native Koreans and this makes up a high majority of the population. Only 2.2% are from another country making Seoul a very homogeneous city. Most of these people are either Chinese or Japanese, with or without Korean ancestry making up 66% of Seoul's foreigners. The next largest groups are Americans (10,000) and Taiwanese (8,700).
Why Come to Seoul ?
People are constantly moving to South Korea and with Seoul being the capital and largest city everyone sees the capital as a place to live. Seoul has seen significant economic growth mainly due to electronics, car manufacturing and telecommunications work and any one with work in these areas eyes Seoul as a new place to live. Seoul also has the fastest internet in the world and has a fantastic subway system ideal for any fast-paced workers. Many native English speakers are on the move to Seoul as there is a high demand for English teachers at schools and universities, and there is good pay as well.
Housing In seoul
Seoul is very much an apartment city with many high rise apartments all over the landscape. In fact, half of Seoul's population own an apartment. Because Seoul has a large population, new apartments must be regularly built to accommodate for the high population. One example of this is the Geumho neighbourhood, where all of the houses were built before 1980. The old neighbourhood is being completely demolished in order to make way for new apartment buildings. Seoul is a great example of well planned city designs.