The number of foreigners residing in Korea stood at 2.26 million last year, marking a record-high since the census of foreign nationals began in 2006, according to the government, Wednesday.

The figure now makes up 4.4 percent of Korea's total population, the government stated.

According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety’s 2022 report on foreign residents, based on Statistics Korea’s annual population and housing census, foreign nationals who have resided here for more than three months stood at 2,258,248 as of Nov. 1, 2022.

The figure is up 5.8 percent from last year.

It shows that Korea’s foreign population finally returned to an upward trajectory after seeing years of decline under the pandemic-driven border restrictions of 2020 and 2021.

The population is divided into three groups: those with a foreign nationality at 1,752,346, those who obtained Korean nationality at 223,825 and children of foreign residents born in Korea at 282,077.

Notably, international students totaled 189,397, surpassing the number of "marriage immigrants" at 175,756 for the first time. They now make up the largest portion of the 1.75 million residents of foreign nationality in the country.

International students, along with ethnic Koreans of foreign nationality, were key groups driving the population growth, with each seeing a 20.9 percent and 7.9 percent increase respectively, the report said.

The dramatic increase in the number of international students is seen as the result of the rising global popularity of Korean culture.

Also, universities across the country have eagerly promoted themselves to attract international students in the face of Korea's demographic cliff, as the country experiences a major drop in the number of young people brought on by the low birthrate.

Meanwhile, the number of foreign residents has continuously increased to reach 397,581.

The number of foreign workers also reached 403,139, which is a 2 percent increase from the year before.

Undocumented foreign workers and other uncategorized foreign nationals stood at 586,473.

By local municipalities, all 17 cities and provinces have seen increases in the number of foreign residents.

The upward trends were especially noticeable in Gyeonggi Province, Seoul and Incheon, with each seeing 37,010, 15,546 and 12,171 more foreign nationals.

Gyeonggi Province had the largest foreign national population of all the provinces, standing at 751,507. The five cities with the highest populations of foreign nationals were: Ansan with 101,850, Suwon with 68,633, Siheung with 68,482, Hwaseong with 66,955 and Bucheon with 55,383 — all of which are located in Gyeonggi Province.

The government designates local municipalities with over 10,000 foreign residents, or whose foreign population exceeds 5 percent of the total population as foreign national-concentrated residential areas. As of last year, there were 97 such regions across the country, up 11 from the year before.

By region, Gyeonggi Province has 23 such areas, Seoul has 17, while South and North Gyeongsang Province each have nine and South Chungcheong Province has eight.