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The Trend of Youth in K-Pop

The debuting of young idols is nothing new in the K-pop industry, but K-pop idols seem to be debuting at even younger ages than before.

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Some Notable Young Debuts

  • SHINEE (2008), Taemin – 14

  • BTS (2013), Jungkook – 15

  • Seventeen (2015), Dino – 16

  • NCT (2016), Jisung – 14

  • IZ*ONE (2018), Wonyoung – 14

  • ITZY (2019), Yuna – 15

  • ENHYPEN (2020), Niki – 14

  • IVE (2021), Leeseo – 14

  • NewJeans (2022), Hyein – 14

The Trend

Average Group Age at Debut Over Time
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  • N = 91

  • While slight, there seems to be a trend of popular South Korean idol groups debuting at younger average ages

    • Especially since the mid-2010s​

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