How Much Does Beer Consumption Vary by Country?


Czech Republic

Ireland

Germany

Australia

United Kingdom

United States

Canada South Africa Mexico Japan Brazil China


The chart above displays the relative beer consumption per person for the specified countries. As you can see, there are huge variations in consumption by country. The average person in the Czech Republic, for example, consumes about seven times as much beer as the average Chinese person. The chart below shows more detailed statistics (Source: Kirin Holdings Company, 2004).


Beer Consumption by Country
Country Bottles Per Person
Per Week
Czech Replublic 8.5
Ireland 7.1
Germany 6.3
Australia 6.0
United Kingdom 5.4
United States 4.4
Canada 3.7
South Africa 3.2
Mexico 2.8
Japan 2.8
Brazil 2.6
China 1.2

 
+26

Answer by  Anonymous

No way this list represents top drinking countries. I can say with out even checking that Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Ukrain, Austria, Serbia, Romania drink more beer than the US

posted by Anonymous
Um. This doesn\'t claim to represent the top drinking countries. It\'s a sample.  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
I lived in Kiev, Ukraine for a time, I doubt Ukrainians drink more beer than the U. S. but I\'d bet they do drink more booze--vodka, liquor, beer, etc. --overall.  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
yeah db he never said this was a top 12 list. It's just an example to show his point. If he had included those nations in the wrong order you'd have a point, but without that you are coming off as a fool. Way to fail to see the point.  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
well such as it is, the list is probably right based on total sales, and as for some of the european countries I believe the one guy right they probably drink more in the form of spirits  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
the list is showing variability not highest consumption my friend  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
Don,t forget france too !!!!  add a comment
 
+14

Answer by  onecrore (196)

So the Czech's and Irish drink more than one bottle of beer per person per day! When you consider that some people (ie. children) aren't drinking much beer at all, it makes you realize that the others in those top countries are really drinking a lot.

posted by Anonymous
idk about Czech but isnt irelands drinking age and alot of europes drinking age lower than the united states. i bet if the united states included all underage drinking wed be higher up. GO COLLEGE  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
"Czechs doesn't count". Yeah, right. Czech Republic! = Prague. Prague is only *one* city in Czech Republic. And I even dispute your assumption about Prague.  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
Absolutelly wrong. Turism is declining and turists are consuming about 2% of total beer consumption...Prague is 14% of consumed total only.  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
While it is difficult to get exact numbers, it is estimated that less than 10% of beer consumption in the Czech republic is consumed by tourist. I would bet it is quite the same in Ireland. So next time try to find some statistics before just typing some nonsense.  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
...and by the way you can believe me as I've just finished my sixth beer while writing the last comment :-)  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
I am an American living in Prague, and while there are a lot of tourists here, I can say that the average Czech could put away a lot more beer in an evening than a typical tourist. It's in their blood. :)  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
I am sure that the statistics include all beer bought in the country. So the chart shows all beer drank by anyone, even the beer bought for or by minors. Go to college.  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
Really? I am a Czech. There are tourists, but mainly in Prague, they donĀ“t bother to explore the country any further. What you say is a nonsense, tourists make a small per cent of the total amount.  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
The stats are probably based on national sales figures. The age of the person buying and consuming the beer wouldn't matter...  add a comment
Reply by potterjdl (0):
Ok, dumb-dumb; studies like this are based on the the number of beers sold divided by the number of people. The age of the drinkers is irrelevant to the graph.  add a comment
 
+10

Answer by  tschebyshev (252)

I wonder if the beers shown are from the actual country that is depicted in the pilsner glass? For example, if the German Glass actually has German beer.

Reply by snippets (16):
We started to do that when taking the photographs, but we quickly discovered that each country produces so many different types of beers that this extra effort was pointless. So, we just chose beers that looked different from eachother and focused on getting the quantities just right.  add a comment
 
+10

Answer by  TwoToneDodge (2204)

In places like China, Norway and Brazil consumption is low. The more beer a country produces the more it consimes generaly. Big Beer consumers are countries that produce a large amount a beer such as Ireland, Germany and The united States. There for it varies quite a bit if you comparing China to Finland.

 
+8

Answer by  Anonymous

Does the bottles / week take into account alcohol by volume or weight? If not, a country like Ireland drinking ~4-5% ABV would be lower in alcohol consumption than Germany drinking ~5-7% ABV, assuming equal measurements for 'bottles'. Or, do you only care about absolute volume of beer?

 
+8

Answer by  udaipur (219)

Are these actual pictures of beer in pilsner glasses or did you photoshop them?

Reply by snippets (16):
They are 12 photographs of 12 glasses full of real beer. We did edit some shadows to make the glasses have clean white backgrounds, but that's all the photo editing we did.  add a comment
 
+7

Answer by  Anonymous

Srsly. Spain not being listed is just outrageous.

posted by Anonymous
Spain is 12th, just above the US which is 13th. Only the first 4 countries (Czech Rep., Ireland, Germany, Australia) are in accurate uninterrupted order. They are the top 4 countries. The rest are missing some countries, it's just a sample.  add a comment
 
+7

Answer by  rodrigocetina (10)

And what about Spain? I would think that's a big beer drinking country. Got any statistics or just wasn't taken into account?

 
+6

Answer by  Anonymous

Does this study include all beer consumed in the country or just that consumed by people of age? Depending on whether or not it was consumed legally, the drinking age could affect the study seeing as some countries, like the United States, have higher drinking ages than others.

 
+6

Answer by  julesbaggins (7)

Somebody made a mistake excluding the Philippines. C'mon, we have San Miguel Beer, a consistent top 20 best beer in the world. And we Filipinos have our love affair with our beers.

posted by Anonymous
San Miguel a top 20 best beer? you must be joking.  add a comment
Reply by julesbaggins (7):
you must also be joking with your question? you something of a beer expert?  add a comment
 
+6

Answer by  TheBrewClub (6)

Very nice visual. I wonder if its changed much since 2004 which is when the data was collected.

 
+6

Answer by  Anonymous

What about Austria??? I'm pretty sure we're in the top 10!!!

posted by Anonymous
5th place, after Australia.  add a comment
 
+6

Answer by  apple (447)

i'm surprised at the results. i would have thought germany and the UK would have been higher up. and what about russia and former soviet countries. thought they'd place in the top 10. i suppose they are more into liquor than beer.

posted by Anonymous
vodka - Russian beer leaves a lot to be desired  add a comment
 
+5

Answer by  Anonymous

this post is a fail. beer bottles in different countries contain different amounts of beer, because the are different sizes. for example: usa 330ml per bottle germany 500ml per bottle.... how many bottles is not an accurate representation at all of how much beer is ingested.

 
+5

Answer by  Anonymous

although a small country: austria has been skipped and does have the right to be listed (amonge the first 5 i guess).

 
+5

Answer by  Anonymous

I'd be interested to see the types of beers each is drinking. Or the country of origin. I'm betting Czech & Deutschland are drinking a lot of their own brew.

 
+4

Answer by  Anonymous

Not surprising that Japan beer consumption is low, given that many in that population lack the enzyme to digest alcohol (ALDH2)!

 
+4

Answer by  Anonymous

Why isn't Finland in it?

posted by Anonymous
They'd break the chart.  add a comment
 
+4

Answer by  Anonymous

Ingenious of you to use the scientific measure "bottle" and add meaning to the study!

 
+4

Answer by  Anonymous

You should have swapped the beers for Ireland and UK! Looks like Guinness in the UK glass and one of many ales/beers in the Irish one.

 
+4

Answer by  DulceDeLeche (219)

Interesting data visualization, but its making me thirsty!

 
+3

Answer by  Anonymous

Czechs drink almost 160l/person/year (roughly 40 gallons). It is the national drink for them.

 
+3

Answer by  SriLanka (264)

Surprising to see that hotter countries (like brazil and mexico) drink less beer per person than some of the very cold countries that appear at the top of the list. I suppose that the culture of beer drinking is more important for beer consumption than weather.

posted by Anonymous
It'll be due to cultures as well. Beer has always been brewed in Northern European countries. These countries are naturally going to drink more beer because of this.  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
beer keeps you warm =D  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
sweden is the country with the biggest consumption of ice cream in the world. What about that!  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
Brazil is a very populated country with more children than European countries. It is hard to keep the average.  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
Sweden consumes the fifth most amount of ice cream, behind New Zealand, US, Australia and Finland. I don't know where you got that from.  add a comment
 
+2

Answer by  Anonymous

In coming years I'm tipping China to move up in the ranks. Geoff http://www. beercartel. com. au

 
+2

Answer by  Anonymous

ummm.... how did the czech rep. beet Ireland?!?!?!?!

 
+2

Answer by  Anonymous

The Czech drinking age is 18, but you'd be fooling yourself if you were to think that young Czechs wait until they are 18

posted by Anonymous
Same goes for Romanians. I\'d say Romanians start at 14 and reach their peak at about 18-20. Most of the people I know drink more than 12 bottles a week, at around 30. When we were 18 y old, 25 bottles a week would have been the norm.  add a comment
 
+2

Answer by  Anonymous

I didn't realise I was Czech!

Reply by rodrigocetina (10):
Jeez, seems to be I'm part Czech/part Irish then... always thought my parents were Mexican...  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
Since I am actually Czech/Irish it makes me feel better about my drinking...  add a comment
 
+1

Answer by  Anonymous

yea, I don't think this is accurate AT ALL!....

posted by Anonymous
It is accurate. Only the top four are in order, the rest of the list is missing a lot. Just remember that this list is BEER CONSUMPTION not alcohol consumption. Czech Rep., Ireland, Germany and Australia are beer-drinking countries. Alcohol consumption in general is a different story altogether.  add a comment
 
+1

Answer by  eriksalteau (17)

good graphics! and interesting, maybe even more when you would compare the continents at large - but maybe then you should include some Asian specialties like chum-churum etc as well...

 
+1

Answer by  Anonymous

Statistics is like that: if I eat a chicken/day and my neighbor doesn't eat at all, we both eat half a chicken each one!

 
+1

Answer by  Anonymous

Wait, this isn't the proper glasswear for some of these beers.

Reply by calea (30):
Sure, but that would make it awful hard to compare, wouldn't it? I drink my beer out of a wine glass, anyway.  add a comment
 
+0

Answer by  Anonymous

Belgium not being in the list is just retarded. Although there's a possibility our consumption is actually lower just because our beer does a better job at getting us drunk.

 
+0

Answer by  crabapple89 (0)

Reno Nevada is the drunkest city in the U.S we should have our own glass

 
+0

Answer by  Anonymous

This is just beer right? It is not taking in to account other forms of alcohol like wine and spirits?

Reply by snippets (16):
Yes, just beer. If you take other forms of alcohol into account, the list of countries changes dramatically.  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
and how are we defining "beer" here?  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
Beer - It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches. The strength of beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume though may range from less than 1% abv. , to over 20% abv. in rare cases.  add a comment
posted by Anonymous
"Beer" is not some freeform term that is hard to define. The list defines beer as beer. There are specific brewing practices.  add a comment
 
+0

Answer by  Anonymous

Does this take into account all the backpackers who visit prague and dublin to get nailed on cheap pilsner or guiness?

 
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