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Where Global Alcohol Consumption Is Rising & Falling [Infographic]

This article is more than 4 years old.

A recent study published in The Lancet has found that global alcohol consumption is steadily increasing. Total alcohol consumed globally per year has gone from 21 billion liters in 1990 to 35.7 billion liters in 2017 - an increase of 70%. Low and middle-income countries are the driving force behind the trend with Vietnam, India and China all recording significant increases. That has resulted in alcohol consumption increasing by 34% in Southeast Asia in the seven-year period from 2010 to 2017. With an average of 15 liters of pure alcohol consumed per adult annually as of 2017, Moldova is the country with the highest levels of consumption while Kuwait has the lowest at 0.005 liters per year on average.

The trend is forecast to continue up to 2030 when Europe is no longer expected to have the highest levels of alcohol consumption. The following infographic takes a closer look at the 2010 to 2017 trend, focusing on a selection of countries from the study. Alcohol consumption has increased dramatically in Vietnam, rising nearly 90% since 2010. India has also seen a noticeable increase with the average annual amount consumed rising 37.2% during the same period. Many developed countries have seen slight increases or decreases with U.S. consumption levels going up 5.4% since 2010. Russians are drinking less, along with the UK, Canada and Australia. The research also measured the proportion of people who do not drink alcohol worldwide. The prevalence of abstinence dropped from 46% in 1990 to 43% in 2017.

Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)

Statista