Seoul: The number of foreign medical tourists visiting South Korea surpassed 2 million in 2025, reflecting a significant increase in global interest in the nation's healthcare services, a report revealed on Sunday. A total of 2.01 million international patients sought medical, dental, and surgical care in South Korea, marking a 71.9 percent rise from the previous year.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the data was published in an annual report by the state-run Korea Health Industry Development Institute. The breakdown by country showed that Chinese nationals accounted for 618,000, or 30.8 percent, of the total, followed by 600,000 visitors from Japan, 185,000 from Taiwan, and 173,000 from the United States. Among dermatology clinics, Chinese patients were the largest group, with 459,000 receiving treatment, while Japanese patients numbered 399,000. In plastic surgery clinics, 97,000 Japanese patients sought services, followed by 57,000 Chinese patients.

Separate statistics from the Korea Tourism Organization indicated that foreign medical tourists spent 213.08 billion won (approximately US$154.35 million) in July alone, representing a 66.5 percent increase from the same month in the previous year. The monthly expenditure has consistently remained above 200 billion won from March through July of 2025. Chinese visitors were the highest spenders, with 57.7 billion won, followed by Americans with 44 billion won, and Japanese with 28.5 billion won.

The report also highlighted that 54.9 percent of foreign medical tourists' spending occurred at dermatology clinics, with plastic surgery clinics and pharmacies accounting for 19.3 percent and 12.9 percent, respectively. Geographically, 86.8 percent of the total spending was concentrated in Seoul, while Busan and Gyeonggi Province saw 6.4 percent and 3.7 percent of the spending, respectively.

"This is the result of the growing perception that South Korea's medical technology is world-class, combined with the fact that major hospitals and clinics have established multilingual guidance systems and improved the convenience of treatment," stated Yoon Ji-hwan, a professor at Kyung Hee University.