Author: Charles Frank

Alcoholic Beverage Consumption Statistics and Trends 2022

In contrast, the sales volume for cocktails/RTDs, the next largest category, was 36.6 million cases. The first map shows this in terms of spirits as a share of total alcohol consumption. In many Asian countries, spirits account for most of total alcohol consumption. Long-run data on alcohol consumption from the United States gives us one perspective of drinking since 1850.

With each new year comes a new set of alcohol beverage consumption statistics, trends, and predictions. As in years past, this article summarizes data from several different sources to help readers understand what is happening in the alcoholic beverage space. The growth rate for all other varietals reported decreased between 0.9% (Sauvignon blanc) and 16.9% (Sangria). Other formats that decreased in growth during this period included 500 mL, 1 L, and larger containers. Formats that experienced an increase in growth rate were 300 mL (28.3%), 187 mL (6.2%), 250 mL (5.8%), and other smaller containers.

1. According to Numerator, 90% of Millennials purchased alcohol during the 52-week period ending in May 2021, compared to 84% of 21 and older Gen Z shoppers.
2. Typically, 5 to 10 percent of adults across these regions drank in the preceding year, and in a number of countries, this was below 5 percent.
3. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.
4. As reported by the DISCUS for 2021, the top five spirits by revenue growth were vodka (4.9%), tequila/mezcal (30.1%), American whiskey (6.7%), Brandy & Cognac (13.1%), and cordials (15.2%).

Online sales of LNA beverages increased by 315% between October 2020 and 2021, while “alcoholic options” only increased by 26%. In 2021, Gallup, Inc. reported that 60% of U.S. adults drank alcoholic beverages, which decreased from 65% as reported in 2019. The average number of drinks consumed in the previous seven days also decreased. In 2019, consumers aged 18 years and older drank, on average, 4.0 drinks in a seven-day period, but in 2021 that average was 3.6 drinks.

Data on alcohol expenditure is typically limited to North America, Europe, and Oceania.

That is due to whiskey growth outpacing vodka on the back of growth of +4.9%. Single malt Scotch was down -6.1% down due to tariffs, and Irish whiskey was impacted by on-premise closures finishing down -0.5%. But those declines were more than covered by growth in Japanese, Indian, and American brands. Pertaining to price, those priced at $15 and above experienced positive growth in sales compared to 2020, with the greatest growth for wines at the $25 and high price tier. NielsenIQ reported that growth was driven by super-premium (75cl bottle priced between $15.99 and $29.99) and ultra-premium (between $30 and $49.99) price tiers.

Total alcoholic beverage sales in the U.S. 2006-2022

Another indicator that Americans are looking for flavor was the tremendous growth of agave-based spirits finishing up +15.9% and Cognac/Armagnac logging volume gains of +20.1%. When we look at national averages in this way, there is no distinct relationship between income and alcohol consumption. As shown by clusters of countries (for example, Middle Eastern countries with low alcohol intake but high GDP per capita), we tend to see strong cultural patterns that tend to alter the standard income-consumption relationship we may expect. The map shows heavy drinkers – those who had an episode of heavy drinking in the previous 30 days – as a share of total drinkers (i.e., those who have drunk less than one alcoholic drink in the last 12 months are excluded).

Hop water is a “carbonated beverage made with hops,” which “tastes a lot like beer, but contains zero alcohol, as well as zero calories, carbs, sugar or gluten.” The net positive change for Sauvignon Blanc was 6% for women and 2% for men. When segmented by age range, the net positive change for those under 40 years was 14% compared to 2% for those aged 40 and older. The leading driver of the upward trajectory was the sprits category which logged its biggest volume increase since 1990, finishing the year up a white-hot +4.6%. While vodka is still the top seller, it is projected to be overtaken by whisky by 2022.

According to Numerator, 90% of Millennials purchased alcohol during the 52-week period ending in May 2021, compared to 84% of 21 and older Gen Z shoppers. Gen Zs reasons for not buying included “alcohol’s impact on their mood, level of alertness, and even image on social media.” The map shows the share of all road traffic deaths attributed to alcohol consumption over the national legal limit for alcohol consumption. Measuring the health impact by mortality alone fails to capture the impact that alcohol use disorders have on an individual’s well-being. The ‘disease burden’ – measured in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) – considers mortality and years lived with disability or health burden.

Alcohol consumption

The charts show global consumption of spirits, which are distilled alcoholic drinks, including gin, rum, whisky, tequila, and vodka. This is given as the share of adults aged 15 years and older who have drunk alcohol within the previous year. Consumers are looking for a beverage made with natural ingredients and coloring for the overall beverage category.

The map shows DALYs per 100,000 people, which result from alcohol use disorders. At the end of this topic page, we provide a number of potential sources of support and guidance for those concerned about uncontrolled drinking or alcohol dependency. This chart is shown for the global total but can be explored for any country or region using the “Change country or region” toggle.

Nearly half of both generations, 47% Gen Z drinkers and 48% Millennial drinkers, consumed alcohol to relax. Slightly more Gen Z drinkers indicated that alcohol “helps me have a good time,” 49%, and “gives me a buzz,” 45%, compared to Millennial drinkers, 38 and 37%, respectively. In South Africa and Papua New Guinea, more than half of all traffic deaths are attributable to alcohol consumption. Global data on the prevalence and effectiveness of alcohol use disorder treatment is incomplete. Alcohol use disorder, which includes alcohol dependence, is defined in the WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (available here). Alcohol use disorder (AUD) refers to the drinking of alcohol that causes mental and physical health problems.

Global wine consumption

This interactive chart shows the average share of household expenditure that is spent on alcohol. Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Wine contains around 12% pure alcohol per volume, so that one liter of wine contains 0.12 liters of pure alcohol. Beer contains around 5% of pure alcohol per volume1 so that one liter of beer contains 0.05 liters of pure alcohol. The comparison of this map with the previous maps makes clear that heavy drinking is not necessarily most common in the same countries where alcohol consumption is most common. Again, the prevalence of drinking across North Africa and the Middle East is notably lower than elsewhere.

Alcohol Rehab Guide

In an article published by WGSN, we should begin to see Chinese baijiu, a white spirit, “and the world’s most-consumed spirit, outselling whisky, vodka, gin, rum, and tequila combined,” become more prevalent. All visualizations, data, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited. In the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and many European countries, alcohol is responsible for around a third of all traffic deaths.

You may wonder, “How much is a premium-and-above bottle of wine or spirits?” The following table provides price bands as published by IWSR, Forbes.com, Winefolly.com, and IRI. Hasegawa, the following are examples of beer and food pairings based on the beer’s flavor profile. Other sources indicate that more “lesser-known” European lagers like Belgian lagers, Czech lagers, and German smoked lagers will become prevalent.

One of the main items highlighted in the report is the rapid ascension of the RTD market, poised to become the second-largest alcohol category in the US in terms of volume consumption by 2021. Hard seltzers represent a 56.7% share of the total RTD category in the US, followed by flavored alcoholic beverages (FABs) (25.9% share) and ready-to-drink cocktails/long drinks (6.9%). What some suggest should be the fourth category of alcoholic beverages, sales of ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages increased from “7 percent in 2019 to 11 percent for the first half of 2021,” with several sources indicating that the RTD market will continue to grow. In fact, the market share for hard seltzer decreased slightly between 2020 and 2021 due to “increased competition from crossover categories like RTDs.” NielsenIQ revealed that “less than 5% of households [s]” purchased low and no-alcohol (LNA) beverages, which accounted for 3.5% of the total alcohol market share.