The number of global hallyu fan club members surpassed 35 million across 86 countries last year, up from 21.8 million in 2014, according to new data from the Korea Foundation Tuesday.
There were a total of 1,493 official hallyu fan clubs worldwide, a 21 percent increase from 2014 when there were 1,229 clubs.
A total of 26.21 million fan club members were reported in Asia-Pacific -- a 48 percent increase from 2014. The Americas had 7.58 million fans, a staggering 182 percent rise from 2014 to 2015, as well as a 12 percent increase in the number of fan clubs to 804.
The number of European fan club members was 1.63 million, while Africa and the Middle East had a total of 170,000 fans.
According to the Korea Foundation, while Korean dramas and K-pop remain at the core of hallyu’s increasing global surge, Korean hip-hop and Web dramas contributed largely to hallyu’s recent growth.
The data, which included a survey of 2,000 people, was jointly collected by the Korea Foundation, the Foreign Ministry and 105 foreign embassies.
