Soju, Beer Consumption on the Decrease

The average Korean adult consumed 53 bottles of soju and 83 bottles of beer last year.

That's equivalent to 4.5 bottles of the clear, distilled liquor and seven bottles of beer a month per person, according to data from the National Tax Service.

A total of 2.29 billion bottles of soju (360 ml) and 3.59 billion bottles of beer (500 ml) were consumed in Korea last year. 

Per-capita alcohol consumption has declined by 10 bottles for soju and 20 bottles for beer over the last five years. 

The marked decrease is attributed to the coronavirus pandemic, which discouraged people from holding after-work and social gatherings. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, soju consumption fell 3.2 bottles per capita from the previous year and beer 11.6 bottles.

Imports of wine continue to grow, however, more than doubling from 36,517 kl in 2017 to 76,881 kl last year.