The world’s top beer-consuming countries
Can you guess which country drinks the most beer per capita?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has researched and published details of which countries consume the most alcohol per capita.
This information has also been broken down into beer, wines, spirits and overall alcohol consumption.
In publishing the report the WHO said its aim was to, “support Member States in collecting information in order to assist them in their efforts to reduce the harmful use of alcohol, and its health and social consequences.”
Dr Ala Alwan, WHO assistant director-general for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, added: “Many countries recognise the serious public health problems caused by the harmful use of alcohol and have taken steps to prevent the health and social burdens and treat those in need of care. But clearly much more needs to be done to reduce the loss of life and suffering associated with harmful alcohol use.”
But which countries consume the most beer? We’re pretty confident you’ll be surprised at who comes out on top.
10. Estonia
Estonia – estonianworld.com
Coming in at number 10 on the WHO’s list is Estonia, where the 1.2m population enjoys an average of 5.53 litres per capita, per year.
9. Lithuania
A selection of Lithuanian beers – lithuanianbeer.com/
Lithuania has a population of around 3.2m, is the largest of the three Baltic states and in 1990 became the first Soviet republic to declare independence. Listed by the UN as a “Very High Human Development” country, Lithuania sits ninth in the beer consuming countries, on 5.60 litres per capita, per year.
8. Germany
The entrance to Oktoberfest – Antonia Glezakos
With a population of 81m, it is quite striking that Germany is so high on this list. The Germans knock back an average of 6.22 litres of beer per capita, per year according to the WHO.
7. Uganda
The capital of Uganda – uganda-visit-and-travel-guide.com/
Uganda is the highest placed country from the African mainland on the WHO’s list and is the world’s seventh largest consumer of beer per capita. The 35m population drinks an average 6.51 litres per year.
6. Austria
Austria’s population of 8.47m people consumes an annual average of 6.70 litres per capita.
5. Azerbaijan
It is thought that at least 90% of Azerbaijan’s 9m population are muslim, so it is perhaps surprising to see them feature so highly on the WHO’s list. Apparently the country consumes 7.00 litres of beer per capita, per year.
4. Ireland
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It’s a safe bet that the WHO has included stout within the beer category, which is why Ireland features in fourth place on the list of beer consumers, knocking back 7.04 litres per capita, per year.
3. Seychelles
The Seychelles – seychelles.travel.com
The 115 islands that make up the Republic of Seychelles are home to just under 90,000 people. Those who are aged over 15 are obviously fans of beer as they drink 7.15 litres per year, putting them third on the WHO’s list.
2. Czech Republic
According to the WHO the Czech Republic’s 10.5m population each consume 8.51 litres per year, making it the world’s second largest per capita consumer of beer.
1. Palau
Palau is an island country in the western Pacific Ocean, made up of around 250 islands and with a population of just 21,000. The country is ranked top in the WHO’s list of countries by beer consumption, with 8.68 litres per capita, per year in adults aged 15 or over.
So where did Britain come? Keep on looking to find out some more surprising results.
15. Great Britain
Britain comes in 15th on the WHO list, with an annual per capita beer consumption of 4.93 litres.
22. Australia
Bondi beach – waverley.nsw.gov.au
The stereotype of Australians enjoying a beer on the beach or with the barbecue seems to be false, with a 4.56 litre annual beer consumption, per capita.
24. United States of America
The US and its population of 314.5m people comes in 24th on the WHO’s list of beer consuming countries, drinking an average of 4.47 per capita, per year.
Interesting piece but my usual gripe – where’s the report? (The same gripe applies to the piece on older age groups and alcohol-health issues).
For example, tourism in both Palau and Seychelles must increase the population substantially – was this effect considered or adjusted? Otherwise it would seem that data are being manipulated to achieve the desired result.
Can I ask DB a simple question: does none of you have a critical or sceptical mind? If you believe, as I do, that there are major issues in relation to alcohol consumption then having a report which could be discredited due to poor methodology serves no useful purpose. I would have expected your editorial board to have raised these questions and sought clarification before publishing the article, or at least publishing with a caveat. Instead, you’ve gone for the tabloid-style headline!
Somehow, I get the feeling I am wasting my sweetness on the desert air, but someone has to!
This is just wrong surely? Per capita consumption figures of well over 100 litres per head are common place in main parts of the world.
In the form published here, the figures are either wrong or misleading. Germany has a declining beer consumption, but it is still above 100 litres per year. My assumption when looking at these figures is that they refer to absolute alcohol consumption. Thus, if Germans drink 6,22 litres of alcohol via beer, at say an average of 4,5% alc/vol,, then they would be drinking 138,2 litres of beer p.a., which sounds about right.
This is NOT “beer consumption”, you idiots, it’s “litres of pure alcohol consumed while drinking beer”. Do you seriously think the Irish drink 14 pints of beer a year, each?
This data in this article is wrong. The US consumption rate for beer is much higher than that. New Hampshire ranks as the # 1 beer consumption state in the US, with 43.0 gallons. That is over 100 liters a year, per person. Our lowest ranking states average in the mid 20gallons per capita.
This cannot possibly be correct. In Chile wine consumption is 15 liters per capita, placing us in the lower bottom of wine producing countries. Here beer stats triple that of wine, so I can’t understand how your world beer rates rank in the below 10-liter categories. Where, and how did you gett your numbers?
According to your rank, I am the largest beer consumer in the world.
I appreciate everyone’s comments, the information is taken from the World Health Organisation’s research and here is a link to their findings – http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/global_alcohol_report/en/index.html
Andy, I followed your link and the report is dated and launched 2011. Firstly bit odd to bring it up now. secondly there are individual country reports. I went to the Irish page, as that ‘s where I live. The info is mostly up to 2005! Situation here has changed dramatically since then, so this report is hopelessly out of date. Then Ireland consumed 14.4lt of pure alcohol. Think, off top of head, In 2010 that was down to 11.3lt. 2011 was up to 11.9lt. Aside from recession and mass emigration (principally by the beer drinking demographic of 20 somethings) drink driving laws have also changed. All in all a pretty pointless report and sensationalism of poor info. Oh and by the way spreading something over many many pages, when it could be told on one page, just to get more eyeballs (ie pageviews) is tiresome and I usually just exit the site. I only looked at a couple in this instance.
i think that beer is awful!!!