Indonesians ate 13.2 BILLION packets of instant noodles in 2015

According to the latest data from the World Instant Noodle Association released last week, Indonesians ate 13.2 billion packages of instant noodles in 2015.

Now that sounds like a crazy amount of instant noodles, which are not known for being the healthiest of foods (and some people claim they have other side-effects as well). But with a population of about 249.9 million people, that averages out to about 53 packages of instant noodles per person last year, or a little over once a week.

Yes, most instant noodles are loaded with calories, fat and sodium, but if everybody only ate them once a week, that would be okay. In fact, we sort of feel like it’s every Indonesians’ patriotic duty to eat Indomie Goreng at least a few times a year.

But since 53 is only an average, we can safely surmise that there are many Indonesian out there eating instant mie way more often – you can probably think of a few people who eat them just about every day.

Although the 13.2 billion from 2015 represented a small drop off from the 13.43 billion sold in 2014, Sribugo Suratmo, the Chairman of the Association of Bread, Biscuit and Instant Noodle Producers (Arobim), told Indonesia Investments that continuing innovation in the instant noodle industry, as well as increasing purchasing power among Indonesian consumers, would fuel much bigger sales in the future. He estimated that in 2016, Indonesians would consume 15 billion packages of instant noodles.

Source: World Instant Noodle Association

Indonesia is at least not the largest consumer of instant noodles in the world. That honor goes to China, whose people consumed 40.43 billion packages last year. However, with a population of about 1.375 billion, that means the Chinese only ate about 30 packages on average, far less than the Indonesian average.

Even the inventors of instant noodles, the Japanese, only consumed 5.54 billion packages per year, for an average of 43.5 packages per person per year. However, the Vietnamese also averaged about 53 packages per person in 2015, meaning Indonesia is not alone in its insatiable instant noodle appetite.

Do you think Indonesia’s love of instant noodles is harmless gluttony or a potential ticking health bomb? Let us know what you think on our Facebook page.



Reader Interactions

Leave A Reply


BECOME A COCO+ MEMBER

Support local news and join a community of like-minded
“Coconauts” across Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.

Join Now
Coconuts TV
Our latest and greatest original videos
Subscribe on