New data finds that a greater share of the working population who were self-employed tended to be in small regions last year.

According to Statistics Korea on Tuesday, the number of self-employed in the nation reached some five-point-six million in 2022, accounting for 20-point-one percent of the total number of people with jobs.

By region, South Jeolla Province had the largest portion of self-employed people with 31-point-two percent of those with jobs there running their own business.

North Gyeongsang Province had the second-largest share followed by North Jeolla Province, Jeju, South Chungcheong Province and South Gyeongsang Province.

The city of Ulsan was found to have the smallest share of self-employed people, followed by Sejong City, Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon.

The statistics agency said the Seoul metropolitan area and large cities tended to have small shares of self-employed people out of the total employed population, meaning that these areas had large ratios of workers receiving monthly paychecks.