South Korea has been found to have sent more than ten-thousand Christian missionaries abroad last year, ranking second in terms of the number of missionaries in the world.

The Korea Research Institute for Missions said Thursday that South Korea was followed by Great Britain with some eight-thousand missionaries and Canada with some seven-thousand. The United States topped the list with more than 64-thousand missionaries being sent worldwide.

The institute said there were only 93 South Koreans engaged in missionary activity abroad back in 1979, when the country began to compile relevant data. The number has soared since the mid-1990s as the number of Christians in the country has increased.

According to the institute, South Korean missionaries are serving in one-hundred-64 countries worldwide, including the U.S., China, Russia, the Philippines and Japan.