People in Hong Kong and Malaysia are the world’s biggest consumers of fast food with six in 10 people eating fast food at least once a week, according to a survey on Thursday.
Sixty-one percent of Hong Kong adults and 59% of Malaysians go to a fast-food restaurant once a week or more, compared with just 35% of Americans and 11% of Europeans.
Nine percent of people in both Hong Kong and Malaysia said they eat at fast-food restaurants every day, compared with 4% of people in the US and India.
The appetite for fast food in Hong Kong and Malaysia is almost matched by people in the Philippines, where 54% eat it once a week or more, and Singapore where the figure was 50%.
In Thailand, 44% of people eat fast food once a week or more, followed by China with 41% and India with 37%.
In the Asia-Pacific region, the countries least likely to eat fast food are Australia and New Zealand where 30% and 29% of people respectively said they eat it every week.
The markets where fast food has the broadest appeal are the Philippines where 99% of people eat it at least occasionally, followed by Taiwan and Malaysia (98%) and the US (97%).
No European countries surveyed in the study by market-research company ACNielsen made it into the top 10 of 28 countries and territories worldwide where interviews were conducted.
More than 14 000 people were interviewed for the survey. ACNielsen chief marketing officer Tom Markert said the boom in fast food is being driven by convenience and lifestyles.
”Busy lifestyles and ease of access to a wide variety of fast-food restaurants have proved a powerful combination,” he said.
”Where fast-food restaurants have a significant advantage is the ease with which consumers can make their purchases. Perhaps we’ll start to see drive-through windows at grocery stores or at least more convenient in-store prepared-food sections.” — Sapa-DPA