South Korea's Obsession With Thinness Is Putting Women's Health at Risk

K-pop star Jang Won-young of Ive stands as one of the most prominent idols in the industry today. At 173 cm tall and reportedly just 48 kg, her slender frame has become an object of widespread admiration — and aspiration — across South Korea. Yet her estimated BMI of around 16 kg per square meter places her firmly in the underweight category, a classification associated with a host of potential health problems.

Jang is far from alone. New data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, released this week by Democratic Party lawmaker Heo Jong-sik, reveals that 6.2 percent of South Korean women are classified as underweight, defined as having a BMI of 18.5 or lower. That rate is nearly four times the 1.6 percent figure recorded among men and well above the national average of 4.2 percent.

The gender gap persists in every region of the country, with Seoul recording the highest female underweight rate at 8.2 percent. Meanwhile, obesity — which South Korea defines as a BMI of 25 or above, a lower threshold than the international standard of 30 — skews heavily male. The average male obesity rate stands at 41.5 percent compared to 24.2 percent for women, with Jeju Island topping the charts at 49 percent for men.

A Distorted Mirror

Perhaps more troubling than the raw numbers is how women perceive their own bodies. An August report from the Korean Society for the Study of Obesity found that 18.9 percent of women with a BMI in the normal range — between 18.5 and 24.9 — consider themselves obese. Only 4.1 percent of normal-weight men share that perception. Even among underweight women, 0.6 percent believed they were obese, according to an analysis of national survey data spanning 2022 to 2024.

A separate KDCA study examining health trends from 2013 to 2021 found that 15.1 percent of women aged 19 to 29 were underweight. Of those, 16.2 percent reported having tried to shed more weight. Among women with a normal BMI, a striking 53.9 percent said they had attempted to lose weight.

"A cultural preference for thin bodies and reckless encouragement of weight loss is fueling an excessive preoccupation with appearance among young women," the KDCA report warned, noting that unnecessary dieting can carry serious health consequences.

Low Obesity Rates, High Anxiety

By global standards, South Korea is not an overweight nation. Its obesity rate ranks second-lowest in the OECD, trailing only Japan. And because Korea uses a lower BMI threshold for obesity than most countries, what Korea classifies as obese would merely be considered overweight elsewhere. In fact, the proportion of Koreans who are overweight by OECD standards is lower than the proportion of Americans classified as obese.

The actual obesity trend among women has barely budged, rising just 0.3 percentage points between 2015 and 2024. For men, by contrast, the obesity rate has surged by nearly 10 percentage points over the same period — yet the cultural pressure to be thin falls disproportionately on women.

Lawmaker Heo called for greater regulatory oversight of weight-loss medications, which have grown increasingly popular in the country. He urged authorities to ensure that individuals with a normal or underweight BMI are barred from accessing these drugs.

The Medical Consequences of Being Too Thin

Being underweight is not merely a cosmetic concern. Medical research has linked it to weakened immune function, heightened risk of osteoporosis and anemia, and developmental delays in children.

A 2022 nationwide cohort study conducted by Korean physicians and published in Scientific Reports found that severely underweight individuals — those with a BMI below 16.5 — faced a 28 percent greater risk of bone fractures compared to people of normal weight. Even moderately underweight individuals (BMI of 16.5 to 17.4) and mildly underweight individuals (BMI of 17.5 to 18.4) had elevated fracture risks of 14 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

The data paints a clear picture: South Korea's cultural fixation on thinness is not only distorting how women see themselves but actively endangering their health.