Gyeonggi Province (; ) is the most populous province in South Korea.
Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a provincial-level special city since 1946. Incheon, the nation's third-largest city, is on the coast of the province and has been similarly administered as a provincial-level metropolitan city since 1981. The three jurisdictions are collectively referred to as Sudogwon and cover , with a combined population of over 26 million – amounting to over half (50.25%) of the entire population of South Korea, and a third of the population of the Korean peninsula at the 2020 census.
Etymology Its name, Gyeonggi, means " (the capital) and (the surrounding area)". Thus, Gyeonggi Province can be translated as "Seoul and the surrounding areas of Seoul".
History
Gyeonggi Province has been a politically important area since 18 BCE, when Korea was divided into three nations during the Three Kingdoms period. Ever since King Onjo, the founder of Baekje (one of the three kingdoms), founded the government in Wiryeseong of Hanam, the Han River Valley was absorbed into Goguryeo in the mid-fifth century, and became Silla's territory in the year 553 (the 14th year of King Jinheung).In traditional Korean timekeeping, years are tracked by reign of monarchs. Today, this is practiced in addition to Common Era (CE). Afterward, the current location of Gyeonggi Province, one of the nine states of Later Silla, was called Hansanju.
The Gyeonggi region started to rise as the central region of Goryeo as King Taejo of Goryeo (the kingdom following Silla) set up the capital in Gaesong. Since 1018 (the 9th year of Goryeo's King Hyeonjong), this area has been officially called "Gyeonggi".
During the Joseon, which was founded after the Goryeo, King Taejo of Joseon set the capital in Hanyang, while restructuring Gyeonggi's area to include Gwangju, Suwon, Yeoju, and Anseong, along with the southeast region. Since the period of King Taejong and Sejong the Great, the Gyeonggi region has been very similar to the current administrative area of Gyeonggi Province.
In 1895 the 23-Bu system, which reorganized administrative areas, was effected. The Gyeonggi region was divided into Hanseong (modern Seoul), Incheon, Chungju, Gongju, and Kaesong.
During the Japanese colonial period, Hanseong-bu was incorporated into Gyeonggi Province. On October 1, 1910, it was renamed Keijo and a provincial government was placed in Keijo according to the reorganization of administrative districts.
After liberation and the foundation of two separate Korean states, Gyeonggi Province and its capital, Seoul, were separated with partial regions of Gyeonggi Province being incorporated into Seoul thereafter in 1946. Additionally, Kaesong became North Korean territory, the only city to change control after the countries were divided at the 38th parallel, which is now part of North Korea's North Hwanghae Province.
In 1967 the seat of the Gyeonggi provincial government was transferred from Seoul to Suwon. After Incheon separated from Gyeonggi Province in 1981, Gyeonggi regions such as Ongjin County and Ganghwa County were incorporated into Incheon in 1995.
Geography Gyeonggi Province is in the western central region of the Korean Peninsula, which is vertically situated in Northeast Asia and is between east longitude of 126 and 127, and north latitude of 36 and 38. Its dimension is 10% of Korea's territory, . It is in contact with of cease-fire line to the north, of coastline to the west, Gangwon Province to the east, North Chungcheong Province and South Chungcheong Province to the south, and has Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea, in its center. Its provincial government is in Suwon, but some of its government buildings are in Uijeongbu for the administrative conveniences of the northern region.
Climate The climate of Gyeonggi Province is the continental climate, which has a severe differentiation of temperature between summer and winter, and has distinctions of four seasons. Spring is warm, summer is hot and humid, autumn is cool, and winter is cold and snowy. The annual average temperature is between , where the temperature in the mountainous areas to the northeast is lower and the coastal areas to the southwest is higher. For January's average temperature, the Gyeonggi Bay is , the Namhangang (River) Basin is , and the Bukhangang (River) and Imjingang Basins are . It becomes colder and higher in temperature differentiation from coastal to inland areas. Summer has a lower local differentiation compared to winter. The inland areas are hotter than the Gyeonggi Bay area, the hottest area is Pyeongtaek, making the average temperature of August .
The annual average precipitation is around , with a lot of rainfall. It is rainy in summer and dry during winter. The northeastern inland areas of Bukhangang and the upper stream of Imjingang has a precipitation of , whereas the coastal area has only of precipitation.
Nature and national parks The topography of Gyeonggi Province is divided into southern and northern areas by the Han River, which flows from east to west. The area north to the Han River is mainly mountainous, while the southern area is mainly plain.
The configuration of Gyeonggi Province is represented by Dong-go-seo-jeo (high in the east and low in the west), where the Gwangju Mountain Range and the Charyeong Mountain Range spreads from the east and drops in elevation in the west. The fields of Gimpo, Gyeonggi, and Pyeongtaek extend to the west.
Gyeonggi Province natural environment includes its rivers, lakes, mountains, and seas. Its representative rivers are the Hangang, Imjingang, and Anseongcheon Fg(Stream), which flow into the Yellow Sea, with Gyeonggi Plain, Yeonbaek Plain and Anseong Plain forming a fertile field area around the rivers. The Gwangju Mountain Range and the Charyeong Mountain Range stretch toward China in Gyeonggi Province. Most of the mountains that rise above , such as Myeongjisan (), Gukmangbong () and Yongmunsan () in the Gwangju Mountain Range. It iriidc Ktihas a developed granite area which, due to the granite's exfoliation effect, makes it full of strangely shaped cliffs and deep valleys. The Charyeong Mountain Range forms the boundary between Gyeonggi Province and North Chungcheong Province, but is a relatively low-altitude hilly area.
In Gyeonggi Province, there is Bukhansan National Park in Uijeongbu. For provincial parks, there are the Chukryeongsan Natural Recreation Area, Namhan-sanseong Provincial Park, Gapyeong Yeoninsan Provincial Park, and Mulhyanggi Arboretum. Besides the listed, the scenery of well-known mountains including Soyosan of Dongducheon City, Yongmunsan of Yangpyeong County, and Gwanaksan of Anyang and Gwacheon, along with Hangang and Imjingang are tourist sites of Gyeonggi Province.
Moraksan, a 385-meter rock mountain.
Population Gyeonggi Province has shown a rapid increase in population due to the modernization and urbanization of the Republic of Korea. Its population has increased from 2,748,765 in 1960 to 3,703,761 in 1980; 6,050,943 in 1990; 8,984,134 in 2000; 11,379,459 in 2010; and 13,511,676 in 2020.
In 2010 there were 4,527,282 households, with an average of 3 people per family. There were 6,112,339 males and 5,959,545 females. The population density was 1,119 people/km2, almost double the national average of 486 people/km2.
The province's most heavily populated area as of 2024 is Suwon (1,195,000) followed by Yongin (1,085,000), Goyang (1,071,000), Hwasung (962,000), Seongnam (915,000) and Bucheon (772,000). The lowest populated area in 2010 was Yeoncheon County (41,000), followed by Gapyeong County (62,000) and Yangpyeong County (72,595).
Economy As the backbone of Seoul in the means of manufacturing complex, Gyeonggi Province is evenly developed in heavy industry (electronics, machine, heavy and chemical industry, steel), light industry (textile), and farm, livestock and fisheries industry. Due to the influence of recent high wages, the weight of manufacturing industries has decreased in Korea's economy. Gyeonggi Province is making efforts in many ways to improve and modernize the conventional industry structure, resulting in quick growth of innovative small and medium-sized enterprises such as U-JIN Tech Corp. Gyeonggi Province is unsparingly investing in the promotion of service industries related to soft competitive power such as state-of-the-art IT industry, designing, conventions and tourism, along with its great leap as a commercial hub in Northeast Asia using the Pyeongtaek Harbor.
Besides this, it is known for its special local products such as Icheon rice and Gwangju ceramics. Leading companies representing Korea, including Samsung Electronics' headquarters, SK Hynix's headquarters, NAVER's headquarters, Samsung SDI's headquarters, and Paju LG Corporation's LCD complex, are gathered in southern Gyeonggi Province, including Suwon City.
Administrative area
Gyeonggi Province consists of 28 cities (special: 7, normal: 21) and three counties. This is because many counties were elevated to city status owing to the influence of Seoul's new town development plan. Special cities are especially concentrated in the southern area of Gyeonggi Province.
Listed below is each entity's name in English, Hangul and Hanja.
Map # Name Hangul Hanja Population (2015.5) Subdivisions— Special City —1Suwon1,177,3764 ilban-gu — 41 haengjeong-dong2Seongnam974,5803 ilban-gu — 39 haengjeong-dong3Goyang1,041,7063 ilban-gu — 46 haengjeong-dong4Yongin968,3463 ilban-gu — 1 eup, 6 myeon, 23 haengjeong-dong5Bucheon852,75836 haengjeong-dong6Ansan704,7652 ilban-gu — 24 haengjeong-dong7Anyang599,4642 ilban-gu — 31 haengjeong-dong8Namyangju640,5795 eup, 4 myeon, 7 haengjeong-dong9Hwaseong565,2694 eup, 10 myeon, 10 haengjeong-dong— City —10Uijeongbu431,14915 haengjeong-dong11Siheung393,35617 haengjeong-dong12Pyeongtaek453,4373 eup, 6 myeon, 13 haengjeong-dong13Gwangmyeong346,88818 haengjeong-dong14Paju416,4394 eup, 9 myeon, 7 haengjeong-dong15Gunpo288,49411 haengjeong-dong16Gwangju304,5033 eup, 4 myeon, 3 haengjeong-dong17Gimpo344,5853 eup, 3 myeon, 6 haengjeong-dong18Icheon204,9882 eup, 8 myeon, 4 haengjeong-dong19Yangju203,5191 eup, 4 myeon, 6 haengjeong-dong20Guri186,6118 haengjeong-dong21Osan207,5966 haengjeong-dong22Anseong181,4781 eup, 11 myeon, 3 haengjeong-dong23Uiwang157,9166 haengjeong-dong24Pocheon155,6291 eup, 11 myeon, 2 haengjeong-dong25Hanam155,75212 haengjeong-dong26Dongducheon97,4078 haengjeong-dong27Gwacheon69,9146 haengjeong-dong28Yeoju110,5601 eup, 8 myeon, 3 haengjeong-dong— County —29Yangpyeong106,4451 eup, 11 myeon30Gapyeong61,4031 eup, 5 myeon31Yeoncheon45,3142 eup, 8 myeon
Claimed
Gaeseong, Gaepung County and Jangdan County
Transportation Gyeonggi Province's proximity to Seoul, South Korea's capital, and Incheon, its second-busiest port, has contributed to its extremely well-developed transportation infrastructure. It is close to both Incheon International Airport, South Korea's main international gateway and busiest airport, and Gimpo International Airport, its second-busiest airport. Use of water transportation from the harbor at Pyeongtaek is also high.
Road The road pavement rate throughout the province averages 86.5 percent. The area has access to many of South Korea's expressways, including
No. 1 Gyeongbu Expressway, Seoul–Busan No. 15 Seohaean Expressway, Seoul–Mokpo No. 35 Jungbu Expressway, Seoul–Tongyeong No. 37 Second Jungbu Expressway, Seoul–Yongin No. 45 Jungbu Naeryuk Expressway, Yangpyeong–Changwon No. 50 Yeongdong Expressway, Incheon–Gangneung No. 60 Seoul–Yangyang Expressway, Seoul–Chuncheon No. 100 Seoul Ring Expressway No. 110 Second Gyeongin Expressway, Incheon–Anyang No. 120 Gyeongin Expressway, Seoul–Incheon No. 130 Incheon International Airport Expressway, Incheon International Airport–Seoul No. 153 Siheung-Pyeongtaek Expressway