How many people from your country work in Korea under the Employment Permit System (EPS)? The Ministry of Employment and Labor released new data: at the end of 2025, 282,839 E-9 workers from 17 countries were working at Korean companies. The #1 country? Nepal 🇳🇵. Let’s look at the full ranking, which countries are growing fastest, and what this means if you are preparing for the EPS-TOPIK.
🇵🇭 Ilan ang mga Pilipinong EPS worker sa Korea? Tingnan kung pang-ilan ang Pilipinas sa 17 bansa!
🥇 Nepal is #1 with 47,400 workers (16.8%)
🌏 The top 5 — Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar — make up 64% of all E-9 workers
🚀 Fastest growing: Vietnam +30% and Laos ×2.4 (2023 → 2025)
🏭 About 8 in 10 E-9 workers work in manufacturing
⚠️ The 2026 new-entry quota is only 80,000 — competition is getting tougher
📌 1. Top 10 Countries (End of 2025)
| # | Country | Workers | Share | 2023 → 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | 🇳🇵 Nepal | 47,400 | 16.8% | +10% |
| 🥈 | 🇰🇭 Cambodia | 39,639 | 14.0% | +16% |
| 🥉 | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | 33,017 | 11.7% | +30% |
| 4 | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | 32,375 | 11.4% | +17% |
| 5 | 🇲🇲 Myanmar | 27,940 | 9.9% | +16% |
| 6 | 🇹🇭 Thailand | 21,993 | 7.8% | +7% |
| 7 | 🇵🇭 Philippines | 21,136 | 7.5% | +9% |
| 8 | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | 19,248 | 6.8% | +10% |
| 9 | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | 12,390 | 4.4% | +2% |
| 10 | 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan | 12,145 | 4.3% | +12% |
Countries 11–17: 🇵🇰 Pakistan 4,014 · 🇱🇦 Laos 3,855 · 🇹🇱 Timor-Leste 2,866 · 🇲🇳 Mongolia 2,253 · 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan 1,323 · 🇨🇳 China 1,234 · 🇹🇯 Tajikistan 11 (first workers arrived in 2025)
🚀 2. Which Countries Are Growing Fastest?
From 2023 to 2025, the total number of E-9 workers grew from 247,191 to 282,839 (+14%). But some countries grew much faster:
- 🇱🇦 Laos — ×2.4 (1,624 → 3,855): a small but fast-rising sending country
- 🇻🇳 Vietnam — +30% (25,394 → 33,017): moved up to #3
- 🇮🇩 Indonesia — +17% and 🇰🇭 Cambodia — +16%: both steadily growing
- 🇳🇵 Nepal — +10%: still the clear #1, about 7,800 more workers than Cambodia
- 🇵🇭 Philippines — +9%: steady growth, now #7
🏭 3. Where Do E-9 Workers Work?
By industry: about 80% of E-9 workers work in manufacturing factories. The rest work in agriculture & livestock, fishing, construction and services. For example, Vietnam’s 33,016 workers: manufacturing 25,870 · fishing 5,215 · agriculture 1,608 · construction 255 · services 53.
By region (top 6):
| Gyeonggi-do (경기도) | 103,972 (37%) |
| Gyeongsangnam-do (경상남도) | 33,782 |
| Chungcheongnam-do (충청남도) | 26,652 |
| Gyeongsangbuk-do (경상북도) | 19,099 |
| Chungcheongbuk-do (충청북도) | 18,754 |
| Jeollanam-do (전라남도) | 18,103 |
More than 1 in 3 EPS workers work in Gyeonggi-do, the province around Seoul. Seoul itself has only 2,149 E-9 workers.
⚠️ 4. What This Means for EPS-TOPIK Applicants
Korea is bringing in fewer new EPS workers. The yearly new-entry quota was 165,000 in 2024, 130,000 in 2025, and only 80,000 in 2026. That means more applicants are competing for fewer places — your EPS-TOPIK score matters more than ever.
Don’t just memorize answers. Learn the textbook words and sentences with real sound, chapter by chapter. Start free with EPS-BOOK 1, continue with EPS-BOOK 2, and test yourself with the Chapter Mock Tests.
Mas kaunti na ang tinatanggap na bagong EPS worker ngayong 2026 — kaya mag-aral nang mabuti para sa mataas na score!
🗣️ 5. Korean Words for EPS Workers
| 고용허가제 [고용허가제] | Employment Permit System (EPS) |
| 외국인 근로자 [외구긴 글로자] | foreign worker |
| 나라 [나라] | country |
| 제조업 [제조업] | manufacturing |
| 농축산업 [농축싸넙] | agriculture & livestock |
| 어업 [어업] | fishing |
| 건설업 [건서럽] | construction |
“저는 네팔에서 왔어요. 공장에서 일해요.”
(I came from Nepal. I work in a factory.)
Change 네팔 to your country: 필리핀, 캄보디아, 베트남, 인도네시아, 미얀마…
📚 More Guides for EPS Workers
- South Korea Minimum Wage 2027: 10,700 KRW
- How to Calculate Your Salary in South Korea (2026)
- How to Open a Bank Account in Korea as a Foreign Worker
- How to Send Money from Korea to the Philippines
- Leaving Korea? 3 Payments EPS Workers Should Claim
📎 Sources: Ministry of Employment and Labor, “Foreign Workers (E-9) Status by Nationality and Region, as of Dec 31, 2025” (Public Data Portal); 2026 quota: The Korea Herald. Numbers count E-9 workers employed at EPS workplaces at year end.