82.59 percent of South Korea's total population lived in urban areas and cities. Vital statistics UN estimates Source: Life expectancy at birth from 1908 to 2015 Sources: Our World In Data and the United Nations. 1865-1949 1950-2015 Source: UN World Population Prospects Total fertility rate from 1900 to 1924 The total fertility rate is the number of children born per woman. It is based on fairly good data for the entire period. Sources: Our World In Data and Gapminder Foundation. Registered births and deaths Source: Current vital statistics Ethnic groups South Korea is a largely ethnically homogeneous country with an absolute majority of the Korean ethnicity from estimates but the country itself does collect ethnic or racial data formally. However, with its emergence as an economic powerhouse, demand for foreign immigrants increased and in 2007 the number of foreign citizen residents in South Korea passed the one million mark for the first time in history, and the number reached 2 million in 2016. Of those, 1,016,000 came from China, with more than half of them being ethnic Koreans of Chinese citizenship. The next largest group was from Vietnam with 149,000 residents. The third largest group was from the United States with 117,000 residents, excluding the American troops stationed in the country. Thailand, Philippines, Uzbekistan and other countries followed. Many of the foreign residents from China and the former Soviet Union, including Russia and Uzbekistan, are ethnic Koreans (see Koreans in China, Koryo-saram). Chinese in South Korea Since The People's Republic of China and South Korea restored their diplomatic relationship in 1992, the number of Chinese immigrants, majorly Joseonjok, has continued to increase. In the early 1990s, a trade agreement allowed merchants from China to conduct business trades in South Korea. North Americans in South Korea South Korea is a country with one of the largest American immigrant populations in the world, numbering over 100,000. Most American tend to be Korean Americans who have returned to South Korea. South Korea also has a Canadian population of over 20,000. Vietnamese in South Korea The relationship between Vietnamese and Koreans date back to when Lý Dương left for Goryeo after succession of power dispute. Likewise in 1226, Lý Long Tường, a prince of the Lý dynasty of Đại Việt (in modern-day Vietnam), later became Lee Yong-sang (이용상) of Hwasan, a general of Korea. He is an ancestor of one branch of the Lee