K-POP Remains #1 in Global Hallyu Content Rankings for 8 Consecutive Years; 7 Out of 10 People Worldwide Will Recommend Korean Culture

According to the “2025 Overseas Hallyu Survey” released by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea International Cultural Exchange Agency, K-POP has held the top spot among Hallyu content categories for eight years in a row since 2017. The survey found that K-POP ranked far ahead as the “image that comes to mind first when thinking of Korea,” accounting for 17.8% of responses. Following this were Korean cuisine at 11.8%, dramas at 8.7%, beauty products at 6.4%, films at 5.6%, and IT products and brands at 5.1%. IT products and brands dropped out of the top five for the first time since the 2012 survey. This investigation included 26,400 individuals who had experienced Korean cultural content from 28 countries, including China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States, with the sample size per region increased from 700 to 2,100 people. Overall approval for Korean cultural content was 70.3%, while approval for the Korean language—included in the survey for the first time—reached 75.4%, exceeding the average. Particularly high approval rates were observed in the Philippines (88.9%) and Indonesia (86.5%). 68.2% of those with Hallyu experience said they were willing to recommend Korean cultural content to others. By category, the highest willingness to recommend was shown for the Korean language at 78.5%, followed by variety shows at 75.9%, games at 75.9%, dramas at 75.4%, and beauty products at 75.4%. The average monthly time spent consuming Korean cultural content per respondent increased by 2.3 hours compared to the previous year, reaching 14 hours, with dramas (17.5 hours) and variety shows (17 hours) accounting for the most time. Negative perceptions of Hallyu also showed an upward trend. 37.5% of respondents agreed with negative views toward Hallyu, a 4.9 percentage point increase from the previous year’s 32.6%. The highest rates of agreement with negative perceptions were recorded in India (52.7%) and the United Arab Emirates (52.0%). Hallyu also had a significant impact on product and service purchases. 63.8% of respondents said Hallyu influenced their decisions to use Korean products and services, with particularly high rates in Indonesia and the Philippines. Food (66.2%), cosmetics (57.1%), and home appliances (55.3%) were identified as categories with the strongest purchase intent, while interest in Korean tourism (64.1%) and dining at Korean restaurants (64%) was also high. The most favored Korean drama was “Squid Game” at 9.7%, the most favored film was “Parasite” at 8.3%, the most favored actor was Lee Min-ho at 7.0%, and the most favored singer was BTS at 24.6%.