More moved out of Seoul and satellite areas than in for the first time ever in 2015 as killer rent prices and expensive living costs pushed Koreans out of the capital, latest demographic data showed.

According to population and migration data released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday, about 2.55 million people moved out of the Seoul metropolitan area as of 2015, while 2.39 million newly moved in, making a net outflow of 163,000. A net outflow from the Seoul area is the first since data was tracked from 1971. The data compared residence of five years back.

The move of administrative municipality of Sejong City and urban development outside the capital persuaded more people to move out of Seoul, the Statistics Korea said.

About 29.36 million people or 66.7 percent of the Korean population aged 12 years or older had to commute to and from their homes for work or school as of 2015, and they on average spent 30.9 minutes on the road for one-way trip. In Seoul area, the commuting time averaged 37.7 minutes, compared with 24.2 minutes for those living elsewhere.

It took 39.3 minutes on average to commute in Seoul, 38.7 minutes in Incheon, and 36.2 minutes in Gyeonggi Province. About 1.5 million people come to Seoul everyday to get to work or school.

By Kim Se-woong

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