One out of 10 foreigners living in South Korea are illegal aliens, government data showed Tuesday.

According to the data released by the Ministry of Justice, 211,320, or 10.5 percent of the total number of foreigners living here as of end-January, are staying without a valid visa.

The number is up 1.1 percent from what was tallied the previous month, which stood at 208,971, it said.

The total shot up to 223,464 in 2007 and dropped to 177,955 in 2009. Since 2014, the number has hovered around 200,000.

The percentage of illegal aliens, meanwhile, has been declining from 12.3 percent in 2012 to 11.3 percent in 2015 and 10.2 percent in 2016 with the overall rise in the number of foreigners living here.

Last month, 50.8 percent of foreigners living in South Korea were Chinese nationals. The figure was followed by 7.4 percent for Vietnamese, with U.S. citizens accounting for 6.8 percent, the data said. (Yonhap)