Korean plastic surgery rate

Korea was selected as the country with the highest number of plastic surgeries per 1,000 people in the world.

On the 20th, ‘Insider Monkey’, an American investment media outlet, selected the top 20 ‘cosmetic plastic surgery powerhouses’ based on data from the International Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS). Based on 2021 data, the number of plastic surgeries counted was divided by population to rank the countries with the highest plastic surgery rate per capita.

Korea ranked first with 8.9 plastic surgeries per 1,000 people.

The media reported that Korea’s cosmetic surgery market size has already reached $10.7 billion (KRW 14.323 trillion) in 2018, accounting for approximately 25% of the global cosmetic surgery market. At the same time, it was reported that the plastic surgery industry is having a significant impact on the Korean economy, and that in 2022, approximately 46,300 foreigners visited Korea for plastic surgery tourism.

Additionally, approximately 25% of Korean women aged 19 to 29 have undergone plastic surgery such as double eyelid surgery or nose surgery due to cultural influence, and 20 to 33% of women living in Seoul are estimated to have undergone plastic surgery.

Excluding Korea, which ranked first, the top countries were South American countries, including Argentina, which ranked second, Brazil, which ranked third, and Colombia, which ranked fourth.

Argentina ranked second, with 8.81 cases per 1,000 people. Argentina is one of the countries where the most cosmetic procedures are performed in the world, with approximately 280,000 cosmetic procedures performed in 2020. Popular surgeries include breast augmentation and liposuction, and demand for cosmetic surgery has tripled in two years since November 2019. Even in a collapsed economy, ‘plastic surgery tours’ are attracting tourists thanks to high-quality plastic surgeons and relatively low treatment costs.

Third place was Brazil with 7.62 cases per 1,000 population. Brazil is one of the countries with the highest per capita plastic surgery rates globally, with more than 1.1 million procedures performed in 2019 and 1.6 million in 2021. As of 2019, the number of plastic surgeons in Brazil was 8,039, which is the highest number of plastic surgeons per capita in the world. Popular surgeries include breast augmentation, liposuction, abdominoplasty, and rhinoplasty.

Colombia ranked 4th, with 7.26 cases per 1,000 people. Colombia, where liposuction is most commonly performed and breast augmentation and tummy tuck surgery are popular, is considered a popular destination for foreigners to go on ‘cosmetic tours’ because the cost of surgery is 30-40% lower than in the United States.

Fifth place was Greece (6.33 cases). The media reported that breast augmentation, liposuction, eyelid correction, and Botox injections are popular in Greece.

The United States ranked 6th (5.91 cases), Germany ranked 7th (5.72 cases), and Turkey (5.40 cases) ranked 8th. Mexico ranked 9th (5.31 cases), and Italy ranked 10th (4.79 cases). Although it is an East Asian country like Korea, Japan and Taiwan were ranked below the top 10. Japan (2.13 cases) ranked 14th, Taiwan (1.34 cases) ranked 18th, followed by Singapore (19th) (1.2 cases) and India (0.26 cases) in 20th place.