GK:2.1.3 Spatial distribution of the population: concentration in large cities and metropolitan areas
Geography of Korea: II. Population and Living Space > 1. Population > 3) Spatial distribution of the population: concentration in large cities and metropolitan areas
3) Spatial distribution of the population: concentration in large cities and metropolitan areas
Generally, population distribution is determined by natural conditions such as topography, climate, soil quality, and resources, along with such manmade conditions as politics, economics, and social and cultural factors. Climate, perhaps the most decisive factor determining the availability of resources on a global scale, can also be decisive within a single country. In particular in countries or regions that are centered on agriculture, climate will have a profound impact on population distribution. In terms of topography and soil conditions, for instance, population will be much denser on flat and fertile plains or in water-abundant valleys than in barren mountains. As far as manmade conditions, the most decisive factors include the type and scale of economic activities, while the social and political climate can cause the movement of people and thus influence population distribution.
Through the Joseon period (1392–1910) Korea was a traditional agricultural society and as such underlying factors to the population distribution were the distribution and scale of agricultural land. Thus, the plain and coastal areas of the southern and western portions of the peninsula, with their flat terrain and abundance of agricultural land as well as milder climates, the population was high, while the mountainous regions in the north and east, with their relatively colder climate and craggy, less arable terrain, the population was thinner. This situation had changed little by the modern era, however with rapid industrialization and its attendant urbanization from the 1960s, a great amount of the rural agricultural population migrated to the cities, resulting in an overcrowding of cities and metropolitan areas and the depopulation of rural villages.
The urban-centered population trend continues to this day, with 91 percent of South Korea’s population residing in cities in 2012. Particularly striking in South Korea’s case is the concentration of the populace in the capital region. Here the capital region refers to the city of Seoul and its environs, to include the city of Incheon and Gyeonggi-do province. Comprising only 12 percent of South Korea’s total land area, this capital region is home to half of the country’s population.
The population density index is the most common tool for comparing population distribution by region. South Korea’s population density is 485.6 persons per square kilometer, making it one of the most population dense countries on earth. A comparison of population density by region reveals that the coastal region and plains of the peninsula’s southwest have a high population density, while the mountainous regions of the northeast have a low population density. The populace is especially concentrated in places like industrial cities, transportation hubs, and large-scale residential “new cities.”
