The number of people changing residences edged up 0.3 percent in December from a year earlier, the state statistics agency said Wednesday,

People changing their official residence came to some 700,000 in December, up 0.3 percent or 2,000, from the same month a year earlier, according to data provided by Statistics Korea.

The population mobility rate -- the number of those changing their residence for every 100 people -- remained unchanged at 1.37 percent last month, the data showed.

A net 12,842 people moved into Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds the country's capital, in December from a year earlier.

Sejong, a newly built administrative city located in the middle of the country, received a net 4,643 residents over the same period, the data showed.

Seoul, the country's capital with a population of more than 10 million, saw a net 17,393 residents move out. Busan, the second-largest city, lost 1,640 residents.

For all of 2015, the number of people changing residences came to 7.76 million, up 1.7 percent, or 126,000, from a year earlier, with the mobility rate hitting 15.2 percent. (Yonhap)