[ad_1]
As Korea celebrates the one hundredth anniversary of its nationwide census, Minister of Information and Statistics Ahn Hyung-jun is urging the nation’s document 2.73 million international residents to actively take part within the on-site survey, which runs from Nov. 1 to 18.
The minister emphasised that the 2025 Inhabitants and Housing Census goals to embrace and assist international residents as valued members of Korea’s more and more multicultural society, dismissing considerations that the information may very well be used to trace undocumented people.
This 12 months’s census, the most important so far, started on Oct. 22 with on-line and cellphone surveys as a part of the nationwide inhabitants depend performed each 5 years on a pattern of households.
It’s designed to gather complete information on all residents — each Korean residents and international nationals — in addition to their households, offering important statistics for future coverage growth.
Nonetheless, some undocumented residents have expressed considerations that the large-scale survey may very well be used to determine them.
“I ask each international resident to take part within the on-site survey when approached, as your voices are important for shaping insurance policies that replicate the realities of everybody residing in Korea,” Ahn mentioned in an unique written interview with The Korea Occasions.
He defined that the participation of international residents is especially necessary as a result of their information “immediately informs applications associated to a spread of social and welfare providers,” together with schooling, employment, well being care and housing.
“We need to be sure that international communities should not ignored in these providers,” he mentioned, including, “The extra full and correct the data we gather, the higher we are able to design insurance policies that meet the wants of each Korean and international residents.”
To deal with privateness considerations, Ahn underscored that every one responses are strictly protected below Article 33 of the Statistics Act and used just for statistical functions.
“I need to guarantee all residents that the census doesn’t observe authorized standing,” he mentioned. “Nobody can determine who’s undocumented, so everybody can reply safely and confidently.”
Minister of Information and Statistics Ahn Hyung-jun, proper, fourth from left, poses with ministry census workers and villagers throughout a marketing campaign selling the one hundredth anniversary of the nationwide census on Mara Island, Oct. 24. Courtesy of Ministry of Information and Statistics
Survey out there in 20 languages
The 2025 census comes because the variety of international residents in Korea continues to develop, now making up an growing share of the inhabitants.
The variety of non-citizen residents rose from 590,000 in 2010 to 2.04 million in 2024, and up to date information from the Korea Immigration Service exhibits a document 2.73 million within the nation within the first half of 2025, representing 5.3 % of the inhabitants.
The census additionally comes at a time of increasing roles and tasks for the Ministry of Information and Statistics, previously Statistics Korea.
Now a higher-level company below the Prime Minister’s Workplace — the primary such change in 35 years — it’s chargeable for coordinating government-wide information governance and making certain statistical integrity.
The census gathers a complete of 55 objects, together with 42 obtained via direct surveys and 13 sourced from administrative information, masking 5 million randomly chosen households throughout the nation.
“Notably, seven new objects have been added to higher seize altering social norms and the range of family sorts,” Ahn mentioned, referring to new questions that tackle points reminiscent of languages spoken at house and Korean language proficiency.
Minister of Information and Statistics Ahn Hyung-jun, proper, observes because the ministry’s census workers teaches a villager on Mara Island how one can take part within the nationwide census, Oct. 24. Courtesy of Ministry of Information and Statistics
Non-citizens residing in or planning to remain in chosen pattern areas throughout the nation for 3 months or extra are included within the survey.
The census is now out there in 20 languages — up from 10 in 2020 — via on-line, cellphone or in-person surveys.
The newly added languages are Bengali, Burmese, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Lao, Malay, Sinhala, Ukrainian, Urdu and Uzbek. English, Chinese language, Japanese, Bahasa Indonesia, Khmer, Mongolian, Nepali, Russian, Thai and Vietnamese have been already out there, having been used within the earlier census.
Census workers carry multilingual IDs and use tablets with translation apps, whereas devoted name middle workers can help in English, Chinese language and Vietnamese.
The decision middle operates on weekdays from 9 a.m. to six p.m.
“These measures are designed to make participation as simple and secure as attainable,” the minister mentioned.
As of Oct. 28, 11.6 % of households had responded, with cell surveys being the most well-liked methodology. Outcomes are anticipated to be revealed by the tip of November 2026.
“The information will function a key useful resource for nationwide coverage planning, tutorial analysis and enterprise decision-making,” Ahn mentioned.
He famous that the “census supplies statistics all the way down to the city and village stage, permitting native governments to develop community-specific applications and insurance policies.”
The information may even be publicly accessible via the ministry-run Statistical Info Service and Microdata Built-in Service, enabling authorities businesses, researchers and the general public to make the most of the data.
Ahn famous that the census, rooted within the 1925 Simplified Nationwide Census, has been “important for guiding the nation for the previous century,” and famous its key function in fashionable Korean historical past, from the interval instantly following liberation from Japanese colonial rule to financial growth within the latter half of the twentieth century and world recognition of Korea as a developed nation in 2021.
“As Korea has developed as a nation, its statistical capabilities have grown considerably. Right now, these capabilities are acknowledged globally, and lots of international locations search to be taught from our statistical strategies,” Ahn mentioned.
“This achievement is just not solely the results of the ministry’s work, however one thing now we have completed along with the residents who’ve faithfully participated within the census over the previous 100 years,” he added.
[ad_2]
