By And the survey says, Koreans drink a lot:
A survey has found that Korean adults drink an average of 110 bottles of beer and 74 bottles of soju annually. The survey also reveled that the export of Korean alcoholic beverages rose 23 percent from last year.
The National Tax Service announced that the total consumption of alcoholic beverages in Korea amounted to 3.39 million kiloliters last year, up 3.2 percent from 3.29 kiloliters in 2007. In terms of the type of beverage consumed, soju and beer consumption increased 4.3 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively. When converted into per-adult consumption, it reveals a Korean adult drank 74.4 bottles (360ml-bottle) of soju and 109.83 bottles (500ml-bottle) of beer. [Chosun Ilbo]
Basically this survey shows that Koreans drink a bottle of beer nearly every three days with a few bottles of soju in between.
2:12 pm on May 20th, 2009 1
The article actually says 110 bottles of BEER and 74 bottles of soju. That's 2.1 bottles of beer and 1.4 bottles of soju a week.
Sounds more than reasonable to me, even for an American in Korea.
4:14 pm on May 20th, 2009 2
Sounds to me like you were the one drinking 110 bottles of soju given the way you mixed up the numbers….
4:36 pm on May 20th, 2009 3
So 3 bottles a night would be more than average?
10:02 pm on May 20th, 2009 4
Average is all relevant…
12:50 am on May 21st, 2009 5
Thanks for pointing out the mistake. Correction made.
12:57 am on May 21st, 2009 6
That's a pretty low amount for a Korean. I would figure it would be much higher.
8:12 am on May 21st, 2009 7
It seems that the consumption has dropped since I have departed Korea.
9:51 am on May 21st, 2009 8
Yes, but this is on a "per adult" basis, which I assume takes in old ladies and people who don't drink at all. I'd like to see what the average would be for drinking age males. 74 bottles a month might be reasonable.
11:38 am on May 21st, 2009 9
Korea's drinking culture is starting to change. Drinking was often coerced on some office workers. Still is mostly. But there is a growing belief in society that it should not be.
At least at the official policy level, many companies say workers should not be pressured to drink and can decline if they want. But it will be slow going to break out of socilaizing system.
5:50 pm on May 21st, 2009 10
These people got nothing compared to the Ruskies