Jeju’s Fishing-Area Migrants Plunge 42.3% as National Figure Rises 5.1%; Rural Migrants Fall Below 10,000

【Financial News Jeju = Jung Yong-bok】 While the number of people moving to fishing areas nationwide rose again last year, Jeju saw a decline of more than 40%. As Jeju’s total population shifted to a net outflow, the influx of people into farming and fishing villages also weakened.
An analysis released on the 11th by the Ministry of Data and Statistics’ Honam Regional Data Office, based on its “2025 Status of People Moving to Farming and Fishing Areas and Rural Areas in Jeollabuk-do, Jeonnam and Jeju” and nationwide statistics, found that 15 people moved to fishing areas in Jeju last year. That was 11 fewer than the 26 recorded a year earlier, a decrease of 42.3%.
Over the same period, the nationwide figure rose by 30, from 585 to 615, an increase of 5.1%. While the national figure rebounded, Jeju moved in the opposite direction. Jeju’s share of all people moving to fishing areas nationwide also fell from 4.4% in 2024 to 2.4% last year.
However, Jeju’s total was only in the 20s, meaning that the percentage can fluctuate sharply even with changes involving a small number of people. The 42.3% decline should therefore be considered alongside the actual decrease of 11 people.
The decline was larger when measured by households. The number of households moving to fishing areas in Jeju fell by 12, from 26 in 2024 to 14 last year, a decrease of 46.2%. Nationwide, such households increased 5.6% over the same period, from 555 to 586. Jeju’s share of all fishing-area households nationwide also dropped from 4.7% to 2.4%.
Jeju was also the only region in the Honam-Jeju area to move in the opposite direction. Last year, the number of people moving to fishing areas rose 68.8% year on year to 81 in Jeollabuk-do and increased 19.2% to 242 in South Jeolla Province (Jeonnam). In Jeju, it fell 42.3% to 15.
The number of fishing-area households increased 68.2% in Jeollabuk-do and 19.6% in Jeonnam, but declined 46.2% in Jeju.

In particular, the number of new arrivals from outside Jeju declined. Of the 15 people who moved to fishing areas in Jeju last year, five came from other provinces or cities, accounting for 33.3%. The remaining 10 moved to township or village areas within Jeju.
In 2024, 11 of the 26 people who moved to fishing areas came from other provinces or cities, while 15 moved within Jeju. The number arriving in Jeju from outside the province fell by six, from 11 to 5, a decrease of 54.5% in one year.
The pattern of settlement also changed. The share of people moving to fishing areas in Jeju who worked exclusively in fishing fell 13.1 percentage points, from 73.1% in 2024 to 60.0% last year. This was also 4.2 percentage points lower than the nationwide share of 64.2% last year.
Rural migration also declined. The number of people moving to rural areas in Jeju fell by 609, or 5.9%, from 10,340 a year earlier to 9,731 last year. This brought the figure below 10,000. The number of rural households declined by 410, or 5.3%, from 7,796 to 7,386.
Nationwide, the number of people moving to rural areas fell 2.2% over the same period, from 422,789 to 413,464. The decline in rural households was 0.5%. Jeju’s decreases in both rural migrants and rural households were larger than the national declines.
Employment was the leading reason for moving to rural areas in Jeju. Last year, 31.7% of rural households in Jeju cited employment as their main reason for moving. In Jeollabuk-do and Jeonnam, family was the most common reason, accounting for 31.6% and 31.9%, respectively.
People from other provinces or cities accounted for 55.6% of those moving to rural areas in Jeju. External arrivals still made up more than half of rural migration, but the overall scale of the inflow continued to shrink.

Outflows have also been growing in Jeju’s overall population movement. According to the Honam Regional Data Office’s 2025 annual regional economic trends report, 4,273 more people left Jeju than moved in last year.
Jeju recorded a net inflow of 3,148 people in 2022, but shifted to a net outflow of 1,687 in 2023. The net outflow then expanded to 3,361 in 2024 and 4,273 last year.
The net outflow rate among people in their 20s reached 3.2% last year. The number of people who moved from Jeju to the Capital Metropolitan Area on a net basis was also recorded at 1,907.
However, the decline in people moving to fishing and rural areas should not be directly linked as a cause and effect to Jeju’s overall net population outflow. The statistics on people moving to farming, fishing and rural areas count, through administrative data, those who meet certain residence and migration requirements and move to township or village areas. Domestic population-movement statistics cover all arrivals and departures, so their scope and definitions differ.
The two sets of statistics can be viewed as a signal that population inflows into Jeju weakened simultaneously in different areas last year.
Migration to farming areas followed a different pattern from migration to fishing and rural areas. Last year, the number of farming households in Jeju fell 2.1% year on year to 137, while the number of people moving to farming areas rose 2.1% to 147. Nationwide, farming households increased 6.0% to 8,735, and the number of people moving to farming areas rose 8.7% to 9,134. Among population movements into Jeju’s farming and fishing villages, the clearest weakness appeared in migration to fishing and rural areas.
Further observation is needed to determine whether the decline in migration to fishing and rural areas is a temporary fluctuation or a trend resulting from changes in settlement conditions. A detailed analysis is particularly needed of how factors such as housing costs, jobs, the cost of entering the fishing industry and income stability relate to the actual decline in external inflows to Jeju.


[email protected] Jung Yong-bok Reporter