Urbanization in South Korea 

Currently, more than 80% of South Korea's population lives in cities. Of the remaining 20% ​​of rural residents, a large proportion also work in cities, and farmers make up only about 8% of the population. Considering that in 1970, only 40% of the population lived in cities, the country's astonishingly high rate of urbanization becomes clear. The Republic of Korea has one special city status: the capital, Seoul . This city plays a special role in the urbanization process. Suffice it to say that only 40% of all Seoul residents are native-born residents, and only 7% of those whose parents were born in Seoul. Approximately 10 million people currently live within the official boundaries of Seoul.

 False deurbanization

In recent years, a process known as "false deurbanization" has begun in the Republic of Korea. This process involves some metropolitan area residents moving to nearby residential satellite towns. There are at least two reasons for this migration: first, a desire to live in quieter and more environmentally friendly conditions, and second, to pay lower rent. As a result, the city's population within its official administrative boundaries is declining: the metropolis is being "smeared" across a larger territory. For example, the administrative boundaries of Seoul have not been revised in a long time, and today a significant portion of the city's actual residents (the so-called "metropolitan area") live outside its official boundaries. Rapid development and well-organized transportation, especially the interconnected subway and commuter trains, make it possible to work significantly far from where they live. The vast metropolitan area—a circle with a diameter of approximately 100 km, centered on the southern outskirts of Seoul—accommodates approximately half of the country's population. Similar processes are also characteristic of Busan, Korea's second-largest city.

 Largest cities in the Republic of Korea

Besides Seoul, with its special status, there are six directly administered cities, equivalent to provinces: Busan , Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju, Daejeon, and Ulsan . Our fellow citizens are usually impressed by the fact that the population density in Korea is 55 times higher than in Russia: 498 people per square kilometer. The Republic of Korea currently has eight cities with over a million residents. In addition to Seoul and the six directly administered cities listed above, these eight include Suwon, located, like Incheon, in the capital area.