Are There Still People Who Drink and Drive These Days?... Drunk-Driving Rate Has Plummeted

Down to One-Sixth in a Decade
As of 2023, 2.6% for Men, 0.9% for Women

The rate of drunk driving has fallen to one-sixth of its level a decade ago, as a social consensus has taken hold that getting behind the wheel after drinking is absolutely unacceptable.

According to the "2025 Alcohol Statistics Yearbook" released on the 22nd by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Health Promotion Institute, the annual rate of drunk-driving experience among adults aged 19 or older stood at 2.1% in 2023, a sharp drop from 12.6% in 2013, ten years earlier.

Police drunk-driving crackdown. Yonhap News Agency.

The drunk-driving experience rate is calculated based on the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's annual National Health and Nutrition Survey of more than 10,000 people. It is derived by identifying, among those who have driven a car or motorcycle in the past year, the proportion who have driven after consuming even a small amount of alcohol.

The adult drunk-driving experience rate reached 17.1% in 2011, but then steadily decreased, falling below 10% for the first time in 2016 and down to the low 2% range in 2023. As of 2023, the rate was 2.6% for men and 0.9% for women.

The age group with the highest drunk-driving experience rate over the past year was those aged 70 or older, at 4.1%. This was followed by 3.7% for those aged 50 to 59, 3.1% for those aged 60 to 69, 2.3% for those aged 40 to 49, 1.1% for those aged 30 to 39, and 0.8% for those aged 19 to 29.

The share of people who said they had ridden in a vehicle driven by someone who had consumed even a small amount of alcohol has also declined significantly.

For men, the rate was 3.5%, and for women, 3.1%. The annual rate of adults riding in drunk-driven vehicles plummeted from 14.9% in 2013 to 3.3% in 2023.

The age group with the highest rate of riding in a drunk-driven vehicle was those aged 50 to 59, at 4.9%. This was followed by 3.8% for those aged 60 to 69, 3.7% for those aged 19 to 29, and 3.1% for those aged 40 to 49. The share of drunk-driving accidents in total traffic accidents is also declining. The proportion of drunk-driving accidents in the total number of traffic accidents fell from 12.3% in 2013 to 6.6% in 2023.

Meanwhile, Korea Forest Service Commissioner Kim Inho, who caused public outrage over a drunk-driving incident, has been dismissed from his post by authority. On the night of the 20th, Commissioner Kim, while driving under the influence in Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, caused an accident by colliding with two vehicles, including a bus and a passenger car. Police have booked Commissioner Kim on suspicion of violating the Road Traffic Act (drunk driving). His blood alcohol concentration was reportedly at a level warranting license suspension.