"One Chicken Per Person Is the Unwritten Rule"... Koreans Eating '20 Chickens a Year,' Double Consumption Compared to 20 Years Ago

July with Boknal is the peak season... 100 million animals slaughtered
Per capita consumption lower than US and EU, higher than China and Japan

Last year, the average amount of chicken consumed per Korean exceeded 20 birds.

According to the agricultural outlook statistics from the Korea Rural Economic Institute on the 21st, the number of chickens slaughtered domestically last year surpassed 1 billion, reaching 1,011.37 million. Simply dividing this by the population (about 50 million) means that each person consumed about 20 chickens. However, the amount of imported chicken far exceeds exports. Considering that domestic consumption last year was 789,000 tons, which is 30% more than the production volume of 607,000 tons, combining domestically slaughtered and imported chicken suggests that each person consumed about 26 chickens.

Three days before Chobok, on the 12th, customers waiting in line at a Samgyetang restaurant in Jahamun, Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

The consumption of chicken by Koreans has doubled over 20 years. Last year, the per capita chicken consumption by weight, based on meat excluding bones, was 15.7 kg. In 1970, per capita chicken consumption was only 1.4 kg, and in 2003 it was 7.8 kg. Therefore, chicken consumption has doubled in 20 years.

While meat consumption, including chicken, continues to increase in proportion to economic growth, the growth rate of chicken consumption has slowed compared to the past. The average annual growth rate of per capita chicken consumption over five years from 2018 was 2%, less than half of the previous five years' rate (4.3%). The peak season for chicken consumption is summer, especially July, when the number of chickens slaughtered slightly exceeded 100 million. This is 30 million more than in February, the month with the lowest slaughter numbers. This phenomenon is due to increased consumption of health foods like Samgyetang and Baeksuk, as well as 'Chimaek' (chicken and beer).

Recently, 'K-Chicken' has gained fame overseas, but Korea's per capita chicken consumption is still not high compared to other countries. According to data compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on per capita poultry consumption centered on chicken, Korea's estimated consumption this year was 17.6 kg. This is higher than the world average (14.6 kg) but far less than the top countries such as the United States (49.3 kg) and the European Union (EU) (23.1 kg).

The country with the highest poultry consumption in Asia is Malaysia, where the Muslim population is the majority and pork consumption is low; per capita poultry consumption there reaches 47.4 kg. Japan and China have per capita poultry consumption of 13.4 kg and 14.1 kg respectively, both lower than Korea. India's poultry consumption is only 2.2 kg.

Meanwhile, last year, the per capita consumption of the three major meats domestically was 60.6 kg, which was 4.2 kg more than rice consumption (56.4 kg). Among these, pork consumption was the highest at 30.1 kg, followed by chicken at 15.7 kg, and beef at 14.8 kg.