December 5, 2025
SEOUL – Over 40 percent of Korean teenagers now skip breakfast at least five times a week, a steady rise since 2016, according to a report released Thursday by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
The KDCA found that 44 percent of teens regularly miss breakfast, up from 42.4 percent in 2024. The rate reached 41.9 percent for boys and 45.3 percent for girls. The proportion has climbed every year from 28.2 percent in 2016.
The findings are based on a nationwide survey conducted in June and July.
Other indicators of teen dietary habits also raised concern. About 27 percent reported eating fast food at least three times a week — slightly down from 28.9 percent last year, but up 10 percentage points from 2016.
The agency also tracked consumption of sugary and artificially sweetened drinks. The share of teens drinking sweetened beverages at least three times a week fell from 64.4 percent in 2022 to 58.3 percent this year.
For the first time, the KDCA measured intake of “zero-calorie” drinks, finding that 16.5 percent consumed them at least three times weekly.
Teen use of nicotine products fell to 4.1 percent from last year’s 4.5 percent, continuing a downward trend from 7.3 percent in 2019, when the government began tracking the figure. Both cigarette and e-cigarette use declined, with cigarette smoking showing the sharpest drop from 6.7 percent to 3.3 percent.
However, among teens who do use tobacco, a growing share both smoke and vape. Dual use rose from 47.7 percent in 2019 to 61.4 percent this year.
Teen alcohol consumption also declined, dropping to 8 percent from 9.7 percent last year and from 15 percent in 2016. Hazardous drinking — defined as consuming at least five shots of soju for boys and three for girls — edged down 0.6 percentage points to 3.7 percent.
The share of teenagers reporting depression increased to 27.7 percent from 25.7 percent last year. Among them, 41.3 percent described themselves as “very depressed,” slightly down from 42.3 percent a year earlier.