China consumes the most instant noodles by total volume.
Because China has a very large population and a strong noodle-eating tradition, its overall demand far exceeds that of smaller countries. Industry figures commonly combine mainland China and Hong Kong, but this combined market still ranks first globally by the number of servings consumed.
The distinction between total volume and per-person consumption matters. South Korea has traditionally ranked among the leaders in per-capita consumption, meaning the average person there eats many servings each year. That does not make South Korea the largest consumer overall.
Instant noodles were invented in Japan by Momofuku Ando in 1958, yet China became the world’s biggest market. In 2018, China and Hong Kong consumed about 40.25 billion servings, compared with roughly 12.54 billion in Indonesia. Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia are major markets, but none matches China’s total volume.