Population
Korea's population is one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogenous in the world. Except for a small Chinese community (about 20,000), virtually all Koreans share a common cultural and linguistic heritage. With 48.3 million people, South Korea has one of the world's highest population densities. Major population centers are located in the northwest, southeast, and in the plains south of Seoul-Incheon.

Korea experiences one of the largest rates of emigration with ethnic Koreans residing primarily in China (1.9 million), the United States (1.52 million), Japan (681,000), and the countries of the former Soviet Union (450,000).

Language
The spoken Korean language is very similar to Japanese and differs grammatically from Chinese. Korean also does not use tones. The language is related to Japanese, Mongolian, Hungarian, and other Ural-Altaic languages. Nevertheless, about 90% of all Korean vocabulary has Chinese roots. Chinese ideograms are believed to have been brought into Korea sometime before the second century BC. The learned class spoke Korean, but read and wrote Chinese. The phonetic writing system was invented in the 15th century by Chosun King Sejong to provide a writing system for commoners who could not read classic Chinese. Modern Korean is based almost entirely on the phonetic writing system, although Chinese characters remain in limited use for word clarification. Approximately 1,300 Chinese characters are used in modern Korean. English is taught as a second language in most primary and secondary schools, with unbalanced emphasis on rules of grammar. Chinese and Japanese are widely taught at secondary schools.

Religion
Only half of the population actively practices religion. Among this group, Christianity (49%) and Buddhism (47%) comprise Korea's two dominant religions. Though only 3% identified themselves as Confucianists, Korean society remains highly imbued with Confucian values and beliefs. The remaining 1% of the population practice Shamanism (traditional spirit worship) and Chongdogyo, ("Heavenly Way") a traditional religion.