The number of South Koreans who changed their residence posted the lowest figure in 43 years last year.

According to data on population mobility released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday, some seven-point-38 million people moved in 2016. That’s the lowest figure to be recorded since 1979.
 
The population movement rate stood at 14-point-four percent last year, down eight-tenths of a percentage point from 2015. The rate was the lowest to be posted since 1973 when it stood at 14-point-three percent.
 
The population movement rate indicates the number of people changing their place of residence per 100 people.
 
Since standing at some four million in 1970, the number of people who changed their residence grew steadily to peak at roughly nine-point-97 million in 1988. Since then, the figure has overall been declining.
 
Of the total number of people who moved, nearly 67 percent changed residences within the same city or province, down five-point-four percent from 2015. Some 33 percent changed cities or provinces, down three-point-eight percent during the same period.
 
Nearly 52 percent of people who moved to Seoul came from Gyeonggi Province, while around 62 percent of people who left Seoul moved to Gyeonggi.
 
Last year, Seoul’s population stood at nine-point-93 million as of the end of last year after witnessing a net outflow of one-point-four million people.