By Elias Molina and Yoon Hee Young

The number of Hallyu (Korean Wave) fans worldwide has surpassed 150 million.

The Korea Foundation on March 3 said in a report on the Korean Wave's popularity abroad that the number of Hallyu fans worldwide at the end of last year was 156.6 million in 116 countries.

The figure was 29% higher than 121.51 million in 2020 and a 17-fold jump from 9.26 million cited by the inaugural survey in 2012.

The Americas including the U.S., Canada and Argentina saw the biggest growth of 102% to 28.88 million fans, up from 14.59 million in the previous year. This big leap was thanks to K-pop's surging popularity in the U.S., which accounted for over half of Hallyu fans in the region, as well as Argentina and Peru, the two biggest countries for the Korean Wave in Latin America.

African and Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan had 2.33 million fans, up 92% from 1.12 million.

Asia, which was the first region to embrace Hallyu, showed steady growth in the number of fans with 115.75 million, up 21% from 95.44 million.

The foundation said, "Hallyu has become part of the flow of global cultural phenomenon given its geographical spread, expansion of the fan base by continent, and impact on society and the economy," the foundation said. "The invigoration of platforms for global video content that have grown more active amid the spread of the COVID-19 crisis throughout the world has boosted the competitiveness of Hallyu content."

eliasmolina@korea.kr