SEOUL, August 26 (AJP) -South Korea's school-age population is shrinking at its fastest pace in years even as the number of students from immigrant backgrounds continues to rise, government data showed Wednesday.
Students from immigrant backgrounds — a category covering children born in South Korea to one Korean and one foreign-born parent, as well as children of two foreign-born parents — reached 210,838 in elementary, middle and high schools as of April 1.
The figure was up 4.3 percent from 202,208 a year earlier and accounted for 4.3 percent of students at the three school levels, according to a joint report by the Ministry of Education and the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI).
The increase was steepest among high school students, whose number rose 12.0 percent to 37,660. The number of middle school students from immigrant backgrounds increased 4.6 percent to 53,501, while elementary students rose 1.8 percent to 118,655.
By parental origin, Vietnam accounted for the largest share at 30.9 percent, followed by China, excluding ethnic Koreans, at 26.7 percent and the Philippines at 8.1 percent.
Foreign enrollment reached 307,464, up 21.3 percent from a year earlier. The total had surpassed 250,000 only a year earlier.
Vietnam overtook China as the largest source of foreign students for the first time on record.
Vietnamese nationals numbered 96,834, up 28.9 percent from a year earlier and accounting for 31.5 percent of the total. Chinese students numbered 78,890, or 25.7 percent, slipping to second place.
The shift marks a sharp change from 2010, when Chinese nationals accounted for 71.0 percent of all foreign students in South Korea and Vietnamese students made up just 2.3 percent.
Uzbekistan, Nepal and Mongolia rounded out the five largest source countries. Students from Asian countries accounted for 92.1 percent of the total.
Total enrollment across kindergartens and elementary, middle and high schools fell 3.4 percent to 5,362,281, a decline of nearly 189,000 from a year earlier.
Elementary schools recorded the steepest drop, losing 126,118 students, or 5.4 percent, to 2,219,370.
The number of schools nationwide fell by 140 to 20,233, driven largely by kindergarten closures, even as the number of middle and high schools edged higher.
Higher education moved in the opposite direction. Enrollment at South Korean colleges and universities rose 1.8 percent to 3,072,261, while the freshman-seat fill rate increased to 88.2 percent from 86.8 percent.
The figures underscore a widening demographic divide in South Korean education: fewer children are entering the domestic school system, while migrant-background and foreign students are taking up a steadily larger share of classrooms and campuses.
AJP Takeaways
- South Korea had 210,838 students from immigrant backgrounds in elementary, middle and high schools as of April 1, 2026, up 4.3 percent from a year earlier and accounting for 4.3 percent of enrollment.
- Foreign students in South Korean higher education surpassed 300,000 for the first time, reaching 307,464, with Vietnamese nationals overtaking Chinese nationals as the largest group.
- South Korea's kindergarten-through-high-school enrollment fell 3.4 percent to 5.36 million, while elementary enrollment dropped 5.4 percent as the country's low birthrate continues to shrink classrooms.
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