Fourfold Leap
The economic effects of the Korean Wave have reached 37 trillion won in the last five years, according to a study.
The Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI) said on July 10 that Korea enjoyed 37 trillion won (US$29 billion) in economic effects thanks to the Korean cultural wave from 2017 to 2021. In particular, the economic effects were driven mainly by items closely related to the Korean cultural wave such as Korean cosmetics products, music, movies, and TV shows.
KERI used statistical models and industry linkage analysis to estimate the economic effects of the Korean Wave over the last five years. It said that the 37 trillion won consisted of 30.5 trillion won in consumer goods exports and 6.5 trillion won in cultural content exports.
During the same period, added value generated by the Korean cultural wave was estimated to be 13.2 trillion won – a 9.9 trillion won increase in exports of consumer goods and a 3.3 trillion won increase in exports of cultural content.
Over the past five years, the average annual export growth rate of these Korean cultural wave-related items was 13.7 percent (15.7 percent for cultural content, 16.6 percent for cosmetics, and 7.8 percent for processed foods), dwarfing the average annual growth rate (5.4 percent) of total Korean exports over the same period.
The Korean cultural wave has also significantly contributed to job creation. The total number of jobs created by the Korean cultural wave over the period was estimated at 160,000. This is equivalent to a 19.6 percent increase in the total number of employed people in Korea in 2022.
KERI also noted that Korea’s cultural influence has skyrocketed due to a global Korean cultural wave craze that included BTS, which became the first non-English-speaking group to enter the top 10 of a global music chart for five consecutive years starting in 2018, and the Netflix show “Squid Game,” which ranked first in the viewership rankings of 94 countries in 2021. According to U.S. News and World Report and Wharton School’s Global Cultural Influence Rankings, Korean cultural influence jumped by 24 notches from 31st place in the world in 2017 to seventh in 2022.