The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister CHAE Hwi-young, MCST) announced its forecast of the “2026 Social and Cultural Trends,” based on an analysis of 538 million online big data collected between January and November 2025 from news outlets, social media, online communities, and video platforms. The findings indicate that Korean society will move beyond the phase of post-crisis recovery and enter a new stage of “adaptation” in 2026, in which people will continue to restructure their ways of life.

MCST extracted a total of 74,760 keywords from the data collected to comprehensively examine shifts in online public sentiment and everyday life, based on which six major social and cultural trends for 2026 were identified: “a human-centric transition in the post-AI era,” “the age of being oneself and hyper-personalization,” “the wellness transition,” “a restrained and practical consumption ethic,” “pride in K-culture and the emotion economy,” and “coexistence through emotional empathy.” The overarching social and cultural trend forecasted for the coming year was “K-Society: From Recovery to Adaptation.”

Mentions of AI up 44% year on year in 2025, calls for “human-centric transition” amid rapid expansion of AI

As generative AI technologies become more deeply embedded in our everyday life, Korean society is expanding the scope of related discussions beyond the use of AI to a full-scale examination of how human roles and responsibilities should be redefined. According to the analysis, online mentions of AI from January to November 2025 increased by 44% year on year. In particular, sharp increases were observed in AI-related keywords, including policy (147.5%), security (220.4%), and regulation (109.1%), indicating a significant increase in public interest in institutional governance. This trend suggests that while the public is embracing the convenience and potential of AI, they are also increasingly interested in the technology’s impact on employment, safety, and fairness.

A shift toward an individual-centric society in the era of “Being Oneself” and hyper-personalization

“Restrained and practical” consumption takes root as a new value guiding consumption

The transition toward an individual-centric society is accelerating as a growing number of people seek to set their own life directions rather than conform to given social norms. This shift is also evident in the rising interest in the concept of “being oneself,” with online mentions of related terms increasing by 10% compared to the same period last year.

Consumption is no longer seen primarily as a way to expand personal desires. Increasingly, people are placing greater emphasis on balance and efficiency in their daily lives, and a restrained and practical approach to consumption is becoming more common. Online mentions related to consumption rose by 13 percent compared with the same period last year, with the keyword “value for money” accounting for the largest share of consumption-related discourse. This indicates that, rather than simply reducing their spending, people are increasingly managing their expenses through rational decision-making and alternative forms of consumption.

Pride in K-Culture and the Emotional Economy: An Era Where Culture Becomes Identity

Coexistence Shaped More by Emotional Empathy Than Performance

As emotional immersion and a sense of pride become increasingly important in the way people experience culture, K-culture is expanding beyond the simple consumption of content into a sphere where emotional and economic value are closely intertwined. Online mentions of “K-culture” increased by 31 percent compared with the same period last year, with significant growth observed in related keywords reflecting fandom activity and cultural pride.