VOL.97/2026.08

Knowledge

 

Korean Publishing Market in 2025 Through Statistics

 

 

2026.08

 

 

Industry Statistics and Management Information Statistics

 

Publishing industry statistics are broadly classified into industry statistics and management information statistics according to the perspective and purpose. Industry statistics are statistics on general industry status that look at the overall publishing industry, which are useful for industry analysis and policy formulation. On the other hand, management information statistics break down book classifications and comparison items, making them primarily useful for the business activities of publishers and bookstores. Depending on the content of the statistical information, industry statistics and management information statistics are divided into general statistics, production statistics, distribution statistics, and consumption statistics.

 

The "Publishing Industry Survey" published annually by the Publication Industry Promotion Agency of Korea (KPIPA) is a representative industry statistic covering the current status of the Korean publishing industry, released about a year and a half after the end of the fiscal year. As of 2025, here are several statistical materials that will be useful for domestic and international users seeking accurate and prompt statistics on the Korean publishing industry and publishing market.

 

 

 

 

 

Key Publishing Statistics from Statistics Korea

 

Through the Online Shopping Trends Survey, Service Industry Trends Survey, and Household Income and Expenditure Survey conducted by Statistics Korea, key statistics related to the Korean publishing industry as of 2025 can be identified. In 2025, transaction value of books in online shopping malls reached approximately 2.5949 trillion KRW, down 0.4% from 2024 (approximately 2.6063 trillion KRW). The 2025 Production Index for Book Publishing (current index, 2020=100.0) stood at 103.8, an increase of 2.3% compared to 2024 (101.5). From this, it can be estimated that the total sales of Korean publishers slightly increased. In 2025, the average monthly household expenditure on book purchases for households with one or more members nationwide was 10,826 KRW, down 982 KRW (8.3%) from 2024 (11,808 KRW).

 

 

 

 

 

KPA’s “2025 Publishing Market Statistics”

 

 

The statistics on the previous year's publishing market, which the Korean Publishers Association (KPA) has compiled and announced every April since 2020, is a report analyzing the sales and operating profit status of major publishing companies, related corporations, and major bookstores. Because it is the earliest to release the performance and rankings of major publishers leading Korean publishing in terms of scale, it attracts high interest within the industry and significant attention from the press.

 

In the "2025 Publishing Market Statistics," the recent three-year business performance of 72 companies was presented and analyzed. These included 63 book publishers in trade and educational publishing (with one duplicate) and 9 comics, webtoon, and web novel publishers among those that disclosed their 2025 audit reports through the Financial Supervisory Service's Electronic Disclosure System.

 

According to the "2025 Publishing Market Statistics," the total sales of the 72 publishing companies in 2025 were approximately 4.853 trillion KRW, a decrease of 1.3% (approximately 61.6 billion KRW) from the previous year. Their total operating profit in 2025 was approximately 137.0 billion KRW, down 13.4% (approximately 21.1 billion KRW) year on year. The 2025 total sales of major educational book publishers (42 companies) reached approximately 4.1061 trillion KRW, dropping 1.2% compared to 2024 (approximately 4.1577 trillion KRW). Total sales of major trade publishers (22 companies) in 2025 stood at approximately 431.0 billion KRW, down 6.9% compared to 2024 (approximately 462.8 billion KRW). Meanwhile, total sales of comics, webtoon, and web novel publishers (9 companies) in 2025 reached approximately 315.9 billion KRW, up 7.4% from the previous year.

 

The sales status of major trade publishers (22 companies) over the past three years (2023–2025) is shown in the table below. The 2025 sales of Munhakdongne and Changbi, which rank first and second respectively, decreased significantly. This is interpreted as a base effect following the explosive surge in sales for these two publishers during the fourth quarter of 2024, as they published the representative works of author Han Kang, who was selected as the Nobel Prize laureate in Literature on October 10, 2024.

 

 

 

 

 

2025 Korean Publishing Production Statistics

 

The "Korean Publishing Production Statistics" is compiled and analyzed based on deposit materials submitted to the Korean Publishers Association (KPA). It is a publication production statistic that includes the previous year's number of new titles published, copies printed, average price, number of translated books, and number of publishers, as well as publication production trends over the past decade. These statistics are published in the Korean Publication Yearbook.

 

According to the "2025 Korean Publishing Production Statistics," the number of new titles published in 2025 reached 64,991, an increase of 1.1% compared to 2024 (64,306 titles). Among these, the number of translated titles was 9,663, down 5.8% from 2024 (10,262 titles). The average copies printed for the first print of a new edition stood at 1,610 copies, up 39 copies (2.5%) compared to 2024 (1,571 copies).

 

By category, literature accounted for the largest share of new titles published at 22.4%, followed by social sciences (18.9%), children's books (12.3%), applied sciences (10.7%), comics (8.5%), philosophy (5.0%), religion (4.9%), study guides (4.5%), arts (3.8%), history (3.0%), general works (2.3%), language (2.2%), and natural sciences (1.4%). For translated books, a high volume of titles was published in comics (2,693 titles), literature (1,810 titles), and children's books (1,332 titles).

 

 

 

 

 

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Written by Park, Iksoon (Korean Publishing and Copyright Research Institute, President)

He has served as Head of the Editorial Department at Woongjin ThinkBig, Secretary General of the Korean Publishers Association (KPA), and Adjunct Professor at the Graduate School of Digital Image and Contents at Dongguk University. Currently running the Korean Publishing and Copyright Research Institute, he continues his research and educational work on publishing and copyright issues, including the Fixed Book Price System, Public Lending Right, publishing statistics, and publishing contracts.