South Korea turned from student sender into student host
Internationally mobile tertiary students coming into and leaving South Korea, thousands, 2010 and 2023, UNESCO.
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- 2. Japan's foreign residents have doubled since 2012, passing 4 million
- 3. Jakarta, not Tokyo, is the world's largest city
- 4. Two in three newly licensed UK doctors qualified abroad
- 5. Iran dropped from top refugee host to fifth in 2025
- 6. Egypt has more asylum seekers than Germany, Spain and Italy
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- 8. Türkiye overtook France in hosting foreign students
- 9. Uzbekistan's university enrolment rose from 8% to 57%
- 10. Japan rose from ninth to second as Vietnamese emigrants' home
- 11. South Korea turned from student sender into student host
- 12. Nigeria became the third-biggest sender of students abroad
- 13. Pakistanis abroad now send home more than Pakistan exports
- 14. More Syrian refugees returned in 2025 than in 2015–2024 combined
Foreign students at South Korean universities and colleges in 2023, more than double the 59.2k of 2010.
Korean students studying abroad fell from 118.2k in 2010 to 89.7k in 2023 (UNESCO estimates).
The year arrivals passed departures: by 2023 Korea hosted 1.4 foreign students for every Korean abroad, up from 0.5.
the numbers & method
| 2010 (k) | 2023 (k) | |
|---|---|---|
| foreign students in Korea | 59.2 | 127.6 |
| Korean students abroad | 118.2 | 89.7 |
Claim types Fact · Estimate
UNESCO Institute for Statistics, UIS data API (api.uis.unesco.org), Republic of Korea (KOR). Inbound: indicator 26637 'Total inbound internationally mobile students, both sexes (number)': 2010 59,194; 2019 98,857; 2020 111,568; 2023 127,624; 2024 143,939. Outbound: indicator OE.5T8.40510 'Total outbound internationally mobile tertiary students studying abroad, all countries, both sexes (UIS estimate) (number)': 2010 118,176 (UIS estimate); 2019 101,388 (UIS estimate); 2020 101,901; 2023 89,693 (UIS estimate). Outbound counts are compiled by UIS from host-country reports, so they are estimates and may miss students in countries that do not report. The chart compares 2010 and 2023, the latest year with both series; 2024 inbound (143,939) has no outbound match yet. progrss calculations: inbound change 2010–2023 ×2.16; outbound change −24.1%; inbound ÷ outbound 0.50 in 2010 and 1.42 in 2023; first year inbound exceeds outbound is 2020 (2019: 98,857 vs 101,388). Chart values rounded to thousands with one decimal. Licence: UIS data CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO; this plate is not offered for licensing.
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