S. Korea's population mobility rises in April

South Korea's population mobility rose in single digits last month due to higher housing transactions, statistical ministry data showed Wednesday.

The number of those who changed residence to a different province or town totaled 506,000 in April, up 6.3 percent compared to the same month of last year, according to the Ministry of Data and Statistics.

The growth was driven by a fast increase in home sales. Policy effects such as the rural basic income also contributed to attracting new residents to rural areas.

The population mobility rate, which gauges the number of people moving to a different region for every 100 people, gained 0.7 percentage points over the year to 12.1 percent in April.

Ten provinces and cities recorded a net population inflow, led by Gyeonggi province with 3,797, North Chungcheong province with 1,645 and South Chungcheong province with 1,368.

Seven regions experienced a net population outflow, including the capital Seoul with 6,341, the southeastern port city of Busan with 1,040 and the southwestern city of Gwangju with 913.

xinhua