Top 10 Countries That Drink the Most

(Newswire.net — December 5, 2017) Cheyenne, Wyoming — Everyone partakes in a bit of libation from time to time but some countries have a greater affinity to consuming alcohol than others. The latest available reports from the World Health Organization revealed just how much alcohol, in various forms, each nation consumes annually. 

The data collated up to 2011 charts the consumption of beer, wine, spirits and other native or lesser known alcoholic beverages such as waragi in Uganda and soju in South Korea. The figures, as displayed in brackets, represent how many liters are consumed annually per person 15 years old and older.

1.     Belarus  (17.32)

2.     Lithuania  (12.65)

3.     Czech Republic  (12.43)

4.     Croatia  (12.18)

5.     Austria  (12.04)

6.     Portugal  (11.92)

7.     France  (11.80)

8.     Ireland  (11.72)

9.     Estonia  (11.61)

10.   Hungary  (11.51)

Interestingly enough, the top ten are all European countries. The United States ranks #41 with a rate of 8.67 liters per capita and countries in the Middle East with a mainly Muslim population ranked the lowest with little to no official consumption figures.

It was found that Western European countries such as Portugal and France consume the most wine while Austria and Germany were the top beer drinkers. Amongst the Eastern European countries namely Russia, Belarus and Bulgaria, there is a fondness for stronger spirits and consistently ranking high overall whole has been Lithuania, currently ranked #2.

“Lithuania, like neighboring countries Latvia, Estonia and Poland, belong to the Nordic countries where 90 percent of beer is drunk at home, while in Greece, Ireland, Malta, Portugal and Spain more than 60 percent of beer is drunk in bars,” said a European Commission-funded report on Lithuania’s drinking culture.

In response to the detrimentally high level of alcohol consumption worldwide, and particularly within Europe, an annual Alcohol Awareness Week (November 13-19, 2017) has been established “to get people thinking about alcohol – how it affects us as individuals, families, communities and society as a whole,” says Awareness Days UK. 

For nursing mothers, these concerns are of even greater interest since there is a direct correlation between a mother’s blood alcohol content and the amount of alcohol found in her breast milk. After having a causal drink or eating food prepared with alcohol it’s best to test a sample of breast milk. It’s vital to determine when it is safe to resume nursing and the PureMilk™ Breast Milk Alcohol Stripes by HealthyWiser™ is a reliable analysis kit to invest in for the benefit of mother and baby alike.