More than eleven-thousand people acquired South Korean citizenship last year, the highest number since the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to data by the Ministry of Justice released on Wednesday, eleven-thousand-344 out of 18-thousand-623 applicants were granted South Korean nationality between January and December of last year.

The number of naturalized citizens, which stood at nine-thousand-914 in 2019, surged to a record high of 13-thousand-885 in 2020 during the pandemic, when travel restrictions and the spread of COVID-19 in home countries led many foreign residents of South Korea to seek naturalization. 

The figure then declined to around ten-thousand in 2021, 2022 and 2023 before rebounding tabove eleven-thousand in 2024.

People who previously held Chinese nationality accounted for the largest share of new South Korean citizens last year, making up 56-point-five percent of the group, or six-thousand-420 people. Immigrants from Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand followed.