South Korea in 2025 saw 2.01 million foreigners visit the country to receive medical treatment, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare on Friday, who are thought to have spent more than 12 trillion won on tourism.
The number of foreign visitors receiving medical treatment nearly doubled from 1.17 million in 2024, which had surged significantly from 605,768 in the previous year. Figures for 2023 and 2024 were each the highest ever at the time.
Hosting foreign patients is thought to bring substantial revenue to the country, as many such travelers combine treatment with tourism. The Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade estimated that foreign patients and the people who accompanied them spent 12.5 trillion won ($8.4 billion) on medical tourism last year, while only 3.3 trillion won was spent on actual treatment.
Patients from 201 countries or territories visited health clinics and hospitals in Korea last year, with Chinese patients accounting for 30.8 percent. Japanese patients were a close second at 29.8 percent, followed by those from Taiwan (9.2 percent), the US (8.6 percent) and Thailand (2.9 percent).
Last year marked the first time China led all nationalities in terms of foreign patients.
Chinese and Taiwanese patients in particular more than doubled from 2024 to 2025, with the numbers of American patients and Canadian patients surging by 70.4 percent and 59.1 percent, respectively.
Some 62.9 percent of all foreign patients receive dermatology treatment, while 11.2 percent received cosmetic surgeries.
Visits to clinic-level institutes accounted for 87.7 percent.
About 87.2 percent were treated in Seoul, the nation’s capital and most populous city. The city is home to 62.5 percent of the medical establishments registered to treat patients.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
