New data showed that a significant number of people in their 20s and 30s have relocated to Seoul and its surrounding area over the past 20 years while many in their 40s and older have left the region.

A Statistics Korea report released Wednesday showed that the population of Seoul, Incheon and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province has maintained a net inflow since 2017. 

The number of people between 19 to 34 of age moving to the capital area has surpassed those moving out of it since 2004, when the region saw a net inflow of 95-thousand.

The greater Seoul area recorded a net inflow of 61-thousand people, 54-thousand of which were in their 20s.

Forty-three-point-two percent of those who relocated to the capital area last year cited employment as the reason for their move while 24 percent moved for family reasons and 12-point-four percent for education.

On the other hand, the capital area has reported a continuous net exodus of people aged 40 to 64 since 2007. Around 16-thousand of those who left Seoul last year did so for family reasons, and another one-thousand cited environmental concerns.