Sit down in your armchair and grab a can as we bring to you the 10 countries that consume the most beer in 2020 (click to skip ahead and see the top 3 beer consuming countries). Alcohol has been a part of many people’s lives globally throughout history, especially for societal engagements. If you want to learn more about history outside of your books from school, you’ll learn about dozens of wacky alcohol fueled adventures throughout history, because if there’s one thing that has rivaled gold and money throughout history, it’s man’s thirst for alcohol. I’m sure it’s very likely that most of the people have their own alcohol related hijinks that they’re reliving after reading this paragraph.
Of all the types of alcohol, beer is by far the most popular. One of the reasons for that is you can consume a lot more beer than other harder alcohol before getting drunk, and is the choice of drink for most on a normal night to conclude the weekday. In 2018, the total global consumption was over 3 billion 500ml cans. That is absolutely astonishing. Think of it this way; if the Tokyo Dome was capable of filling up 1.24 million KILOliters, you could fill it 152 times just to equal the global consumption of beer.
Pixabay/Public Domain
While the above numbers may be beyond comprehension, it actually gets even more insane. There are 1.8 billion Muslims in the world, and in Islam, alcohol is strictly forbidden in any way. Now even if we assume that 10% of the total Muslims aren’t that religious and don’t mind consuming alcohol, that still leaves over 20% of the entire global population not drinking, and we are still consuming over 3 billion cans!
Another interesting aspect is the fact that many people now prefer low alcohol beer, perhaps because it tastes better or perhaps because it is cheaper than beers with higher alcohol content. These trends are especially prevalent in Europe, which is perhaps the most popular region for beer and alcohol in general. That’s why beer companies such as Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (BUD) derive a significant share of their sales from Europe.
To find the countries which consume the most alcohol in the world, we considered not just the total volume consumed (because then countries with the highest population would always top the list), but also the per capita consumption of each country, to arrive at far more accurate rankings, using Kirin’s report. However, the report only mentioned the top 25 – 30 countries for both total consumption, and for per capita consumption, leaving some gaps. To cover the gaps, we gathered information on the populations of each country and if we had total consumption but not per capita consumption, we simply divided total consumption with the population. On the other hand, where we had per capita consumption and not total consumption, we simply multiplied per capita consumption with total consumption. This is why China doesn’t even make our list even though on an overall level, no other country consumes more alcohol. If you’re wondering which companies provide the majority of beer to these countries, you can check out the 11 largest beer companies in the world in 2020. So let’s take a look at the countries where a beer belly is a way of life rather than an anomaly, starting with number 10:
10. Brazil
Brazil is the third largest beer market in the world, though a comparatively lower per capita consumption means it barely makes our list.
Pixabay/Public Domain
9. United Kingdom
You may have an image of sophisticated British people sipping wine as they sit in an exquisite dining room and chat about politics and finance, but the truth is, the British love beer as much as any other nation.
Pixabay/Public Domain
8. Austria
There will be a lot of European countries in the list of the countries which consume the most beer in 2020, and Austria is no exception, with the second highest per capita consumption in the world.
Pixabay/Public Domain
7. Romania
Pubs serving beer have been common in Romania for nearly 150 years now, and even most of the local beer brands are owned by some of the biggest global beer companies.
Pixabay/Public Domain
6. Mexico
Mexico is the 4th highest overall consumer of beer in the world, and this should come as no surprise in the country where beer has been popular for around 600 years!
Pixabay/Public Domain
5. United States of America
Only China drinks more beer than the United States of America, and in fact, international beer brands are incredibly popular in the United States as well such as Heineken, while their own brands such as Budweiser can also be found at most stores in even the most remote areas of the country.
Pixabay/Public Domain
4. Czech Republic
For 26 years, Czech Republic has topped the list of beer consumption per capita, and its not even close, consuming over 80 liters per capita more than any other country. With this record, it seems unlikely that any country will come even close to toppling Czech Republic.
Click here to see the top 3 beer consuming countries in the world.
Pixabay/Public Domain
Disclosure: 10 Countries that consume the most beer in 2020 is originally published at Insider Monkey. No positions in any of the stocks mentioned in this article.
