The number of foreigners living in Korea has doubled in the last decade to surpass 2 million, the Justice Ministry said Wednesday.

The exact number of foreign residents was 2,001,828 as of the end of June this year, accounting for 3.9 percent of the total population. The number grew from 500,000 in 2000 to more than a million in 2007 and surpassed 2 million another nine years later. That is an average annual growth rate of around eight percent.

At this rate their number is expected to surpass 3 million in 2021 or 5.8 percent of the population, higher than the current OECD average of 5.7 percent.