Countries that drink the most alcohol – ranked

A global ranking of countries that drink the most alcohol, measured by alcohol consumption per capita, using the latest available data from the World Bank.

Historically, alcohol has played an important role in many societies around the world. Social drinking and moderate alcohol consumption is a pleasurable pastime for many.

However, the countries that drink the most alcohol, can suffer from more alcohol-related health issues and societal issues.

“Excessive alcohol consumption is linked to a number of negative outcomes: as a risk factor for diseases and health impacts; crime; road incidents; and for some, alcohol dependence. Globally alcohol consumption causes 2.8 million premature deaths per year.”

Hannah Ritchie & Max Roser , OurWorldInData.org.

The annual global average alcohol consumption is 6.18 litres per person. A person is defined as 15 years or older. The latest available data is from 2016.

To account for the variation in alcohol content of different alcoholic drinks (beer, wine, spirits), it is reported in litres of pure alcohol per year.

To make the 6.18-litre average more relatable we can express it in bottles of wine. Wine contains around 12% of pure alcohol per volume². Therefore, one litre of wine contains 0.12 litres of pure alcohol.

The global average of 6.18 litres of pure alcohol per person per year, essentially equates to approximately 53 bottles of wine per person – or about 1 litre of wine per week.

Regional variations

The World Bank also supplies data in a number of geographical and political regions. Alcohol consumption across North Africa, the Middle East and the Arab World is particularly low.

Europe consumes the most alcohol per capita, particularly in Central and Eastern European countries. Only slightly behind are Western European countries. There are, of course, countries that buck the trend. Nigeria in fifth place, is the highest-ranked non-European nation, consuming 13.4 litres of alcohol per person a year.

• Central Europe and the Baltics: 11.93
• European Union: 11.44
• Euro area: 11.40
• North America: 9.77
• Europe & Central Asia: 9.76
• Africa Western and Central: 6.84
• East Asia & Pacific: 6.43
• Latin America & Caribbean: 6.33
• World: 6.18
• Sub-Saharan Africa: 5.84
• Caribbean Small States: 5.79
• Africa Eastern and Southern: 5.17
• South Asia: 4.33
• Pacific island small states: 2.47
• Middle East & North Africa: 0.81
• Arab World: 0.62

Countries that drink the most alcohol – complete ranking

The table below ranks the world’s countries by their average annual alcohol consumption (litres) per person.

Some countries may have been omitted due to insufficient data.

Rank	Country	Litres
1	Seychelles	20.50
2	Uganda	15.09
3	Czechia	14.45
4	Lithuania	13.22
5	Luxembourg	12.94
6	Germany	12.91
7	Ireland	12.88
8	Latvia	12.77
9	Spain	12.72
10	Bulgaria	12.65
11	France	12.33
12	Burkina Faso	12.03
13	Portugal	12.03
14	Austria	11.96
15	Slovenia	11.90
16	Romania	11.74
17	Poland	11.71
18	Switzerland	11.53
19	Montenegro	11.47
20	UK	11.45
21	Belarus	11.45
22	Moldova	11.43
23	Hungary	11.35
24	Tanzania	11.27
25	Russia	11.19
26	Dominica	11.18
27	Slovakia	11.14
28	Belgium	11.08
29	Andorra	11.02
30	Nigeria	10.84
31	Cyprus	10.81
32	Finland	10.78
33	Laos	10.72
34	New Zealand	10.63
35	Saint Lucia	10.60
36	Australia	10.51
37	Denmark	10.26
38	Greece	10.18
39	Eswatini	10.04
40	USA	9.87
41	South Korea	9.70
42	Barbados	9.69
43	Argentina	9.65
44	Netherlands	9.61
45	South Africa	9.52
46	Grenada	9.48
47	Congo	9.27
48	Estonia	9.23
49	Croatia	9.23
50	Iceland	9.12

51	Chile	9.07
52	St Vincent & the Gren.	9.06
53	Rwanda	8.95
54	St Kitts & Nevis	8.94
55	Canada	8.94
56	Sweden	8.93
57	Serbia	8.75
58	Gabon	8.74
59	Vietnam	8.66
60	Ukraine	8.32
61	Thailand	8.30
62	Georgia	8.25
63	Mongolia	8.19
64	Malta	7.99
65	Panama	7.98
66	Japan	7.96
67	Italy	7.84
68	Paraguay	7.58
69	Brazil	7.42
70	Norway	7.41
71	Equatorial Guinea	7.23
72	Burundi	7.19
73	Albania	7.17
74	Bosnia & Herz.	7.15
75	China	7.05
76	Angola	6.94
77	Uruguay	6.92
78	Guyana	6.89
79	Philippines	6.86
80	Trinidad & Tobago	6.72
81	Dominican Republic	6.68
82	Cambodia	6.64
83	Botswana	6.59
84	Zambia	6.54
85	Antigua & Barbuda	6.38
86	Peru	6.38
87	Kyrgyzstan	6.26
88	Belize	6.22
89	World	6.18
90	North Macedonia	6.16
91	Liberia	6.12
92	Sao Tome & Principe	5.88
93	Cuba	5.83
94	Colombia	5.74
95	Sierra Leone	5.70
96	Cameroon	5.65
97	Cape Verde	5.60
98	Armenia	5.55
99	India	5.54
100	Namibia	5.43

101	Guinea-Bissau	5.38
102	Suriname	5.33
103	Nicaragua	5.18
104	Myanmar	5.12
105	Mexico	5.00
106	Turkmenistan	4.93
107	Costa Rica	4.87
108	Bahamas	4.78
109	Kazakhstan	4.76
110	Zimbabwe	4.67
111	Lesotho	4.59
112	Bolivia	4.43
113	Azerbaijan	4.41
114	Mauritius	4.35
115	Jamaica	4.22
116	Israel	4.21
117	Ecuador	4.20
118	Venezuela	4.14
119	Sri Lanka	4.10
120	UAE	3.90
121	El Salvador	3.89
122	North Korea	3.80
123	Honduras	3.76
124	Nauru	3.71
125	Malawi	3.63
126	Gambia	3.55
127	Fiji	3.32
128	Tajikistan	3.28
129	Benin	2.81
130	Kenya	2.78
131	Ghana	2.75
132	Haiti	2.73
133	Cote d’Ivoire	2.71
134	Samoa	2.66
135	Uzbekistan	2.59
136	Micronesia	2.48
137	Togo	2.46
138	Guatemala	2.45
139	Central African Republic	2.38
140	Ethiopia	2.36
141	Mozambique	2.30
142	Vanuatu	2.25
143	Maldives	2.22
144	Timor	2.17
145	Tunisia	2.12
146	Turkey	2.05
147	Nepal	2.05
148	Singapore	2.03
149	DR Congo	2.00
150	Madagascar	1.97

151	Solomon Islands	1.83
152	Lebanon	1.71
153	Qatar	1.59
154	Tuvalu	1.52
155	Eritrea	1.44
156	Papua New Guinea	1.39
157	Chad	1.37
158	Mali	1.28
159	Guinea	1.11
160	Bahrain	1.09
161	Iran	1.03
162	Algeria	0.95
163	Malaysia	0.85
164	Tonga	0.80
165	Oman	0.78
166	Senegal	0.76
167	Morocco	0.69
168	Jordan	0.69
169	Comoros	0.69
170	Niger	0.67
171	Indonesia	0.57
172	Sudan	0.51
173	Brunei	0.48
174	Kiribati	0.46
175	Bhutan	0.43
176	Djibouti	0.43
177	Iraq	0.39
178	Egypt	0.36
179	Pakistan	0.34
180	Syria	0.24
181	Afghanistan	0.21
182	Saudi Arabia	0.19
183	Yemen	0.05
184	Mauritania	0.04
185	Bangladesh	0.02
186	Libya	0.02
187	Somalia	<0.01
188	Kuwait	<0.01

Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators and Our World in Data