Hallyu fans surpass 178 million in 2022: Report

[KOREA FOUNDATION]

Hallyu fans, or fans of Korean music, films, dramas and other content, exceeded 178 million last year, according to a new report by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs-affiliated Korea Foundation (KF).

According to the "2022 Analysis of Global Hallyu Status" report released by the KF on Wednesday, there were 178,825,261 Hallyu fans in 2022.

This was a significant increase from 2021, when there were 156 million, and a 19-fold increase from 11 years ago.

The numbers of both Hallyu communities and their members worldwide increased in 2022, according to the KF report. The number of Hallyu communities increased 15 percent on year, while total membership grew 14.2 percent on year.

"Whereas the previous trend in Hallyu fandom was a decreasing number of communities alongside a growing number of members, Hallyu fandom grew in 2022 as the nature of communities diversified," said the report.

By region, Asia and Oceania accounted for the largest share of Hallyu fans and fandom communities with 35.4 percent of the global total, followed by the Americas, Europe and Africa and the Middle East.

The KF report called Asia “Hallyu’s backyard,” and that Europe “has yet to be explored.”

The driving force behind the growth of Hallyu is still K-pop, according to the KF report.

“The number of communities active in content areas such as dramas and movies increased from 169 in 2021 to 180 in 2022, but its proportion among all Hallyu-related communities decreased from 11.5% of the total number to 10.7%,” read the report.

“It means that the contribution of these genres to the growth of the Hallyu fan base was not as great as expected.”

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]