Average Korean got 8 radiation tests last year, amid slowing growth in exposure levels

Last year, the number of medical radiation examinations in Korea reached 412.7 million, averaging approximately eight examinations per person.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced on Tuesday that the number of medical radiation examinations in 2024 increased by 3.5 percent compared to 2023.

The total medical radiation exposure dose was 162,090 man·Sv (man·Sievert), with an average exposure dose per person of 3.13 mSv (millisievert).

Over the past five years, from 2020 to 2024, the number of medical radiation examinations and exposure doses has steadily increased. However, in 2024, the rate of increase slowed compared to the previous year, with the number of examinations increasing by 3.5 percent from 2023.

However, the exposure dose remained almost the same.

This is interpreted as being due to an increase in the number of general radiography, dental radiography, and bone density radiography, which have relatively low exposure doses, while the number of computed tomography (CT) and fluoroscopy, which have relatively high exposure doses, decreased.

Last year, the number of medical radiation examinations by type was 321 million for general radiography, accounting for 77.9 percent of the total, and 6.2 per capita, the highest among all types. The radiation dose was 108,552 man·Sv for CT, accounting for 67.0 percent of the total, the highest among all types. CT scans accounted for 67.0 percent of the total radiation dose but only 3.8 percent of the total number of examinations.

“To protect public health, medical radiation examinations should only be conducted when absolutely necessary to prevent unnecessary radiation exposure,” KDCA Commissioner Lim Seung-kwan said.