KOREA FOUNDATION

Global ‘Hallyu’ Fans Exceed 178 Million

The KF recently published the 11th Global Hallyu Status yearbook, providing comprehensive information about the “Korean Wave” of popular culture, or Hallyu. Combining materials collected by Korean diplomatic missions around the world, the survey has been put out annually since 2012.

[To access Global Hallyu Status online, please click here]

As of the end of 2022, the number of Hallyu fans surpassed 178 million—19 times the number of fans counted through the first survey in 2012 (9.26 million).

The 2022 Global Hallyu Status covers 118 countries, based on information offered by 149 Korean diplomatic missions. The survey features Hallyu statistics classified into four continental categories and aims to ascertain whether the Korean Wave has successfully established itself as a forerunner of popular culture across the globe. While the Asia-Oceania region remains Hallyu’s stronghold with some 130 million fans, a Hallyu craze is also sweeping the Americas. Both numerically and proportionally, the Korean Wave fandom in Europe shows an unprecedented year-on-year growth among all regions, and Africa and the Middle East add 18 countries to the global survey, compared to the inaugural 2012 publication.

Most noteworthy about the latest survey is that Hallyu has been enjoyed in far more diverse ways than was previously the case. Likely the result of the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, 43 percent of the Hallyu fan clubs held offline activities in addition to online get-togethers. Furthermore, content falling under the Hallyu umbrella has been diversified with a 20 percent increase observed in the number of fan clubs. These fan clubs organize various programs and events related not only to K-pop but also K-drama, K-beauty, and K-food.

The Global Hallyu Status and other statistical data about Hallyu fan clubs around the world over the past 11 years is freely available at the KF Statistics Center.

The 2022 Global Hallyu StatusKF Statistics CenterK-popK-dramaK-beautyK-food