South Korea’s ADHD Drug Surge Tells You Nothing About Your Child

What did South Korea report?

The Korea Times reported the numbers on October 4, 2026. Reporter Lee Hyo-jin used data from Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. The drug is methylphenidate, which is used for ADHD. In the first half of 2024, 42.13 million tablets were prescribed. In the first half of 2026, the count was 58.05 million. That is a rise of 37.8% in two years. Children and teens were prescribed about half of the tablets.

More people are getting the drug, at about the same amount each. About 225,000 people were prescribed it in June 2026. That is about 35,000 more than a year before. NewDaily Biz, a Korean outlet, looked further back. People prescribed the drug rose from 143,471 in 2020 to 392,239 in 2025. Tablets per person each year barely moved: 263.3 in 2019 and 267.2 in 2024.

Korean reporting ties part of the rise to misuse. The Korea Times points to its name as a “study drug” among students. Inspections through August 2026 found 1,733 online posts selling or brokering it illegally. A ministry official warned of punishment for buying it online without a prescription. Earlier, on September 12, 2025, Korea Biomed reported separate data from the National Assembly. It covered 2022 to 2024 and also showed a rise in children and teens.

Does a bigger drug count mean more children have ADHD?

These numbers do not show that. A tablet count tracks prescriptions, not diagnoses. Korean reporting points partly to misuse. And the NewDaily figures show more people coming in through 2025. The amount each stayed about the same through 2024. That fits more people being diagnosed. Korean reporting suggests some of it is students chasing grades. The data does not split the two.

So here is our view. For a parent, the useful question is not how many. It is what was checked. The CDC says there is no single test for ADHD. Its medical exam includes hearing and vision tests, “to rule out other problems.” The most recent American Academy of Pediatrics guideline we found is from 2019. It tells doctors to “rule out any alternative cause.” It also asks them to screen for conditions that show up alongside ADHD.

We are not saying ADHD is secretly something else. It is a real diagnosis. Sleep problems, worry and learning problems also show up alongside ADHD. So finding one does not rule ADHD out. Our guide Attention Difficulty vs ADHD says more. It covers who diagnoses ADHD and what else to check.

What is worth checking for your own child?

You do not need a national chart. You need to know your child was looked at whole. Each of these is worth raising with your child’s doctor, for its own sake:

• Birth month. Children who are young for their school year get an ADHD diagnosis more often. Layton and colleagues saw this in 407,846 US children (2018). A 2025 review of 32 studies by Frisira and colleagues found it too. Why it happens is an open question. A 2023 pooled study (SIMBA) left it open. Tell the doctor your child’s birth month and the school cut-off date.
• Sleep. Two studies looked at short sleep. It made children and teens sleepier and less focused. Tell the doctor about snoring or pauses in breathing at night.
• Eyes. A 2023 review by Bellato and colleagues linked ADHD to some vision problems. One is eyes that do not turn in well for close work. That link rests on two studies. But a 2021 trial (CITT-ART) found eye therapy “is no better than placebo therapy in improving attention.” So get a full eye exam, for the eyes’ own sake.
• Hearing. A child who misses what the teacher says looks like they are not listening. Ask when hearing was last checked.
• Worry. Anxiety often shows up alongside ADHD. Ask about worry. A mental health professional is the right person for this one.
• Schoolwork. A child stuck on the page looks lost at it. Van Bergen and colleagues ran a large twin study in 2025. It found ADHD goes with reading and math problems. It did not find that one causes the other. Check reading, writing and math too.
• Staring spells. Some staring spells are brief seizures, called absence seizures. The Epilepsy Foundation and Johns Hopkins describe one difference. A daydreaming child comes back when you call their name or touch them. A child in an absence seizure does not. That is guidance, not a tested sign. If you see it, see the pediatrician.

There is a tradeoff. A careful look takes longer than a quick answer. Some checks belong to different people, like an eye doctor or a hearing specialist. There is an open question, too. How often is one of these the real reason a child struggles to focus? Our research files hold no rate for that, for any of them.

A diagnosis that fits opens doors, like support at school. Whether to use medicine is between your family and your child’s doctor. We take no side on it. The numbers in Korea will keep moving. Nobody will ever advocate for your child as hard as you will.