Foreign Patients in Seoul

How many foreign patients in Seoul are there?

1,755,002 in 2025. That is the subtotal printed in "Seoul: foreign patients by nationality" on the Seoul Open Data Plaza, and it equals the sum of the ten nationalities and the "Other" row.

A foreign patient in these statistics is a non-Korean national who received care at a Korean medical institution and is neither a subscriber to nor a dependant under National Health Insurance. Foreign residents treated under the national insurance are not counted.

Which countries send the most foreign patients in Seoul?

The order is Japan (572,967), China (539,270), Taiwan (154,278) and United States (139,957). Of the ten countries named in the table, Australia has the fewest, with 18,722.

Taiwan in third place and United States in fourth are close in size, at 8.8% and 8.0%. The gap widens after that: Thailand, in fifth, has 50,111 (2.9%), and the fourth-placed country has 2.8 times as many patients as the fifth (139,957 ÷ 50,111).

The six countries ranked fifth to tenth add up to 179,142 (10.2%). Countries that are not named separately fall under "Other", which has 169,388 (9.7%).

How many foreign patients in Seoul come from Japan and China?

Japan accounts for 572,967 (32.6%) and China for 539,270 (30.7%). The gap between the two is 33,697, with Japan ahead.

Adding the third and fourth countries brings the top four to 1,406,472, or 80.1% of foreign patients in Seoul. Japan, in first place, has 3.7 times as many patients as third-placed Taiwan (572,967 ÷ 154,278).

How do foreign patients in Seoul divide into groups of nationalities?

East Asia (Japan, China, Taiwan, Mongolia) accounts for 1,294,059, or 73.7% of the Seoul total. The groups are not in the statistics; Seoul Tourism and Medical Tourism Data sorted the ten listed countries by neighbouring region.

Southeast Asia (Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia) has 111,142 (6.3%), and the United States, Canada and Australia group has 180,413 (10.3%). The table does not say which countries make up "Other", so that row is not placed in any group.

Where are the clinics that treat foreign patients in Seoul?

On the 2015 list, 740 of the 1,491 clinics approved for medical tourism in Seoul (49.6%) are in Gangnam-gu. The patient statistics and the clinic list have different reference years, so they can only be read side by side.

Patient numbers are published by nationality only, not by district or specialty. Clinic counts by district are in Medical Tourism Clinics in Seoul, and the difference between the two sources' reference dates is explained in How to Read Seoul Medical Tourism Statistics.

What should you keep in mind when reading the figures on foreign patients in Seoul?

The table Seoul Tourism and Medical Tourism Data obtained has values for 2025 only. Changes from earlier years and trends cannot be stated from this file, so none are given. A foreign patient in these statistics is a non-Korean national who received care at a Korean medical institution and is neither a subscriber to nor a dependant under National Health Insurance. Foreign residents treated under the national insurance are not counted.

Only ten countries are named in the table. All others are combined in a single "Other" row (169,388) and cannot be separated. The statistics also do not show which specialty patients used or which district's clinics they visited.

Where do the figures on foreign patients in Seoul come from, and how were they calculated?

The figures are taken as published from "Seoul: foreign patients by nationality" for 2025 on the Seoul Open Data Plaza. The statistics are compiled by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute and released by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The table lists ten nationalities, an "Other" row and a subtotal. Seoul Tourism and Medical Tourism Data calculated the shares and ranks from those values.

Shares use the subtotal of 1,755,002 as the denominator. Ranks cover the ten named countries, from the most patients down, and leave out "Other".