Beer Culture

Stories about great beer from the countries that invented it.

A Visualization of Beer Consumption By Country

first-six-beer-consumers

Each year, the Czech Republic consumes the most beer per capita, regularly hitting around 160 liters for every Czech man, woman and child. But how does that compare to other countries?

The visualization above is part of a 12-nation comparison from Snippets.com, and re-posted here with kind permission. Each glass depicts the relative annual beer consumption per person for the specified countries, using data from a 2004 report by the Japanese brewer Kirin, whose retro recipes we noted earlier.

Here’s how the 12 nations stack up:

all-twelve-beer-consumers

Poor Brazil. Poor China! Even people in the United States drink only about half as many beers as what the Czechs consume — and much of that, of course, is Bud Light.

NB: this is not a list of the first 12 places, but rather a comparison among various countries. According to Wikipedia’s list of beer consuming countries in 2004, Austria (not depicted here) would come before the UK, while Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Spain would all rank ahead of the United States. And you can forget about 12th place: China’s meager beer consumption of 22 liters per person would not even place it among the top 35 countries.

It’s worth checking out the visualization’s large-format original.

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11 Comments

  1. What joker picked that nice amber-brown for us? We don’t make any beers that colour, sadly.

    Also, isn’t it about time someone did this survey again. I mean, 2004 was ages ago.

  2. What, you think your own consumption over the past five years might have raised Ireland’s average a notch?

  3. Ha ha ha, no. Our consumption figures are steadily going down. And if it’s measured by amount sold it’ll plummet, since vast swathes of our beer is bought up the road in the UK where it’s priced sanely.

  4. As with all statistical representations, it is so easy to skew the true picture. In terms of gross consumption (absolute volumes) CZ is very much lower, plus the ‘consumption’ numbers only represent the amount of beer produced in each country, not necessarily the actual amount consumed in a country – especially if you factor the amount of export beer produced by a handful of the bigger breweries:

    USA = 23,974 Million Liters (ML)
    China = 28,640 ML
    Germany = 9,555 ML
    UK = 5,920 ML
    CZ = 1,878 ML

  5. Well, we drink more beer per capita than the others? So why is our czech glass full? It should be empty:)))

  6. Looking at the figures above, the fact that the Chinese produce so much beer is understandable given their potential market size; however, I wonder how many craft breweries there are? For example I noticed that Japan seems to be going through a change in beer appreciation and there are a number of craft breweries that sell their beers here – Kiuchi Brewery and Yo-Ho Brewing Co spring to mind. Does production quantity naturally lead to the desire for quality and brewing excellence?

  7. plus the ‘consumption’ numbers only represent the amount of beer produced in each country, not necessarily the actual amount consumed in a country

    Actually, I think that’s not right, David. My understanding is that the CR produces almost 200 liters per person annually; it is consumption which is around 160 or so. So “consumption” actually does mean “consumption” in this case, not “consumption + exports.” That’s how I understand it.

    Your main points re: skewing the picture and absolute volumes are, of course, spot on.

    Well, we drink more beer per capita than the others? So why is our czech glass full? It should be empty:)))

    Honza, that’s… completely right! This visualization is ass-backwards! The only other explanation I can possibly imagine is that the Czechs drank all the beer and have started a new round.

  8. Honza, that’s… completely right! This visualization is ass-backwards! The only other explanation I can possibly imagine is that the Czechs drank all the beer and have started a new round…

    here we go:) Maybe we do the third round when the other countries are far behind. Makes me proud of our country:).
    We are also number one in intestinal cancer, age starting with cigarettes etc.. what a country:)
    And as it was published today, Big Mac index says we are on the same level as the US – this way our beers are at least two times cheaper here…

  9. JULIO SAENZ

    Creo que lo que han realizado esta encuentas estan equivocados porque aqui en Sudamerica la gente bebe bien mas que Checos y ademas gustamos mas de los bebidas fuertes
    I think it the poll is wrong because Sudamerica is drinkin’ more beer than Europe and we love Spirit like Tequila ,Cachaza or Crazy Water
    Sorry Czechs but you’re not best drinking

  10. David

    Poor Brazil, poor China???

    Sorry if in Brazil we prefer rum, wine and vodka over beer!

  11. German

    What about the Venezuelan Beer compsumtion..?

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