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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


 
 
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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

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posted by Anonymous  
  • Um. This doesn\'t claim to represent the top drinking countries. It\'s a sample.
    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.
    posted by Anonymous
14 votes

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.

  • 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
    posted by Anonymous
  • Czechs doesn't count - half of the beer in Czech being drunk by Brits, expats and tourists. Ireland that's the real (official) number `8] |_|P |_|P |_|P |_|P
    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.
    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.
    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.
    posted by Anonymous
  • ...and by the way you can believe me as I've just finished my sixth beer while writing the last comment :-)
    posted by Anonymous
13 votes

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.

  • 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.
    posted by snippets (16)
10 votes

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.

10 votes

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

reply
posted by udaipur (208)
  • 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.
    posted by snippets (16)
8 votes

Srsly. Spain not being listed is just outrageous.

reply
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.
    posted by Anonymous
7 votes

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?

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posted by Anonymous  
7 votes

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

7 votes

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.

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

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

reply
posted by Anonymous  
  • 5th place, after Australia.
    posted by Anonymous
6 votes

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.

reply
posted by apple (427)
  • vodka - Russian beer leaves a lot to be desired
    posted by Anonymous
6 votes

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.

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posted by Anonymous  
5 votes

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

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posted by Anonymous  
5 votes

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

5 votes

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.

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posted by Anonymous  
5 votes

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

reply
posted by Anonymous  
4 votes

Why isn't Finland in it?

reply
posted by Anonymous  
  • They'd break the chart.
    posted by Anonymous
4 votes

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

reply
posted by Anonymous  
4 votes

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.

reply
posted by Anonymous  
4 votes

Interesting data visualization, but its making me thirsty!

4 votes

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.

  • 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.
    posted by Anonymous
  • beer keeps you warm =D
    posted by Anonymous
  • sweden is the country with the biggest consumption of ice cream in the world. What about that!
    posted by Anonymous
  • Brazil is a very populated country with more children than European countries. It is hard to keep the average.
    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.
    posted by Anonymous
3 votes

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

reply
posted by Anonymous  
2 votes

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

reply
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.
    posted by Anonymous
2 votes

I didn't realise I was Czech!

reply
posted by Anonymous  
  • Jeez, seems to be I'm part Czech/part Irish then... always thought my parents were Mexican...
    posted by rodrigocetina (10)
  • Since I am actually Czech/Irish it makes me feel better about my drinking...
    posted by Anonymous
2 votes

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

reply
posted by Anonymous  
2 votes

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

reply
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.
    posted by Anonymous
1 votes

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

reply
posted by Anonymous  
1 votes

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 votes

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!

reply
posted by Anonymous  
1 votes

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

reply
posted by Anonymous  
  • Sure, but that would make it awful hard to compare, wouldn't it? I drink my beer out of a wine glass, anyway.
    posted by calea (30)
1 votes

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

reply
posted by Anonymous  
  • Yes, just beer. If you take other forms of alcohol into account, the list of countries changes dramatically.
    posted by snippets (16)
  • and how are we defining "beer" here?
    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.
    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.
    posted by Anonymous
0 votes

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

reply
posted by Anonymous  
0 votes

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Tags:  alcohol & beer

 
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