South Koreans are drinking less — and barely remember their last night out

South Korea's drinking culture is fading fast. Domestic liquor shipments fell to a record low last year, dropping to their weakest level since the 1998 Asian financial crisis.

According to the National Tax Service's tax statistics portal, domestic liquor shipments totaled 2.988 million kiloliters last year.

That marks the first time in 27 years that annual shipments have fallen below 3 million kiloliters, a threshold last breached during the Asian financial crisis in 1998, when shipments stood at 2.922 million kiloliters. Compared with a decade ago — 3.804 million kiloliters in 2015 — shipments have plunged 21.5 percent.

Beer, which accounts for the largest share of domestic liquor shipments, totaled 1.519 million kiloliters last year, falling for three consecutive years since 2022 and dropping 7.2 percent from the previous year.

Diluted soju shipments have also declined for three consecutive years since 2022, slipping from 864,000 kiloliters to 844,000, then 816,000, and finally 793,000 kiloliters last year — falling below the 800,000-kiloliter mark.

Makgeolli shipments have fallen for five consecutive years since peaking at 380,000 kiloliters in 2020.

The sustained, multi-year decline in shipments signals a structural shift in South Korea's drinking culture, not a short-term fluctuation.

Workplace culture is also changing markedly. "These days, company dinners are rare to begin with, and after-parties have all but disappeared," said one office worker, who asked to be identified only as A. "Even when there is a dinner, nobody forces anyone to drink the way they used to."

Growing health consciousness is also driving the trend. According to a 2025 liquor industry survey published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation, consumers who drink at least once a month did so an average of 8.8 days per month last year, down from 9.0 days in 2023. The average number of drinks consumed on a drinking occasion also edged down, from 6.7 glasses in 2023 to 6.6.

The report noted that the home-drinking and solo-drinking trends that took hold during the COVID-19 pandemic have persisted. It added that as drinking culture shifts from drinking to get drunk to drinking for enjoyment, consumer preferences are expanding beyond conventional liquor categories to a wider variety of alcoholic beverages.