'Korean Rice Power' Is a Thing of the Past... Annual Per Capita Rice Consumption Falls Below 60kg

Rice Consumption Drops 56.6% Compared to 50 Years Ago
Diet Changes Lead to 950% Surge in Meat Consumption

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] Due to changes in food culture, the demand for rice has decreased, and for the first time since related statistics began, the annual per capita rice consumption fell below 60kg. On the other hand, meat consumption surged by 950% over the past 50 years.

According to the "Structural Changes in Agriculture Seen Through Statistics" released by Statistics Korea on the 17th, last year's annual per capita rice consumption was 59.2kg, falling below 60kg for the first time since Statistics Korea began compiling data. Compared to the consumption in the 1970s (136.4kg), the decrease reached 56.6%. The amount consumed over the past 50 years has dropped to less than half.

Meanwhile, meat consumption last year was 54.6kg, marking a 950% increase compared to the 1970s, the highest ever recorded. Beef and pork increased to 13.0kg and 26.8kg respectively, showing growth rates of 983.3% and 930.8% over the same period. Vegetable consumption was 152.8kg, and fruit consumption was 56.6kg, increasing by 155.1% and 332.1% respectively.

Production volume showed a similar trend to consumption. Last year, livestock accounted for the largest share of agricultural production value at 39.8%, followed by vegetables at 22.4%, food crops at 21.1%, and fruits at 9.1%. Rice production increased until 2001, after which it began to decline. Based on last year's production value, livestock products were about 19.771 trillion KRW, food crops were 10.492 trillion KRW, of which rice accounted for 8.351 trillion KRW. Vegetables were 11.127 trillion KRW, and fruits were 4.527 trillion KRW.

The farming population has also steadily decreased over the past 50 years. On average per year, the farming population decreased by 3.7%, and the number of farming households decreased by 1.8%. Last year, the farming population was 2.245 million, down 12.177 million (-84.4%) from 14.422 million in 1970. The proportion of the farming population within the total population (51.779 million) was 4.3%, down 41.6 percentage points from 45.9% in 1970. The number of farming households also decreased by 1.476 million (-59.4%) from 2.483 million in 1970 to 1.007 million in 2019.

Since statistics began in 1975, the cultivated area has decreased by an average of 0.8% per year. As of last year, it was 1.581 million hectares, down 659,000 hectares (-29.4%) from 2.24 million hectares in 1975.

Labor productivity rose dramatically, reaching 16,912 KRW per hour last year, up 16,791 KRW (13,876.9%) from 121 KRW in 1970. The number of people employed in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries was 1.395 million last year, down 3.451 million (-71.2%) from 4.846 million in 1970. As of last year, the mechanization rate for rice farming was 98.4%, for dry field farming 60.2%, and the number of agricultural corporations increased by an average of 8.3% annually over the past 19 years (2000-2018).

Farm household income has steadily increased. Over the past 50 years (1970-2019), farm household income grew annually by 14.0% in off-farm income, 11.6% in non-business income, and 8.4% in agricultural income. Looking at farming types over the past 27 years (1998-2019), livestock farms increased by 4.4% annually, rice paddy farms by 2.7%, vegetable farms by 2.0%, fruit farms by 1.7%, and special crop farms by 0.9%. Over the past 18 years (2002-2019), farms with agricultural and livestock product sales exceeding 100 million KRW increased by 8.0% annually, and production costs per 10a (1000㎡) rose by 8.1% for rice paddies, 6.4% for soybeans, 5.8% for chili peppers, and 5.1% each for garlic and onions.

The number of returnees to farming was 11,504 last year, an increase of 1,192 (11.6%) compared to 10,312 in 2013. By gender, males decreased by 1.6 percentage points, while females increased by 1.6 percentage points. By age group, aging trends were evident: those in their 40s (-7.6 percentage points), 50s (-2.2 percentage points), and under 30 (-0.9 percentage points) decreased, while those in their 60s (9.0 percentage points) and 70s and older (1.5 percentage points) increased.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.