Europe takes the crown for having the highest share of drinkers in the world.
Within the region, alcohol preferences vary significantly. This map, via Visual Capitalist's Kayla Zhu, visualizes the most popular type of alcohol in various European countries, based on per capita consumption (in liters of pure alcohol) among individuals aged 15 and older.
Data comes from the World Health Organization (WHO) and is from 2020.
Beer is Becoming More Popular Across Europe
Below, we show the most popular type of alcohol in each European country, based on per capita consumption in liters of pure alcohol.
| Country | Most consumed type of alcohol for people ages 15+ |
|---|---|
| 🇦🇱 Albania | Beer |
| 🇦🇩 Andorra | Wine |
| 🇦🇹 Austria | Beer |
| 🇧🇾 Belarus | Spirits |
| 🇧🇪 Belgium | Beer |
| 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina | Beer |
| 🇧🇬 Bulgaria | Spirits |
| 🇭🇷 Croatia | Beer |
| 🇨🇾 Cyprus | Spirits |
| 🇨🇿 Czechia | Beer |
| 🇩🇰 Denmark | Wine |
| 🇪🇪 Estonia | Spirits |
| 🇫🇮 Finland | Beer |
| 🇫🇷 France | Wine |
| 🇩🇪 Germany | Beer |
| 🇬🇷 Greece | Wine |
| 🇭🇺 Hungary | Beer |
| 🇮🇸 Iceland | Beer |
| 🇮🇪 Ireland | Beer |
| 🇮🇹 Italy | Wine |
| 🇱🇻 Latvia | Spirits |
| 🇱🇹 Lithuania | Spirits |
| 🇱🇺 Luxembourg | Wine |
| 🇲🇹 Malta | Beer |
| 🇲🇪 Montenegro | Beer |
| 🇳🇱 Netherlands | Beer |
| 🇲🇰 North Macedonia | Beer |
| 🇳🇴 Norway | Wine |
| 🇵🇱 Poland | Beer |
| 🇵🇹 Portugal | Wine |
| 🇲🇩 Moldova | Wine |
| 🇷🇴 Romania | Beer |
| 🇷🇺 Russia | Spirits |
| 🇷🇸 Serbia | Beer |
| 🇸🇰 Slovakia | Beer |
| 🇸🇮 Slovenia | Wine |
| 🇪🇸 Spain | Beer |
| 🇸🇪 Sweden | Wine |
| 🇨🇭 Switzerland | Wine |
| 🇹🇷 Türkiye | Beer |
| 🇺🇦 Ukraine | Spirits |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | Wine |
The Mediterranean’s traditional wine belt—spanning Southern Europe, where a warm climate, fertile soil, and deep-rooted traditions have long made wine a staple in countries like France, Italy, Spain, and Greece—is losing its dominance as beer gains popularity across some of these countries.
Shifting consumer preferences, globalization, and the rise of craft brewing has boosted beer’s popularity in these traditionally wine-drinking countries.
In Eastern Europe, spirits—namely vodka—has been the drink of choice for many years but some countries like Romania and Serbia are starting to shift towards a lighter alternative in beer.
According to the latest WHO data, there are over 470 million current drinkers in Europe, with an average of two out of every three adults consuming alcohol.
Alcohol use disorder is a health concern in the WHO European region. According to WHO, around one in every 10 adults in Europe are estimated to have an alcohol use disorder, and almost one in every 20 live with alcohol dependence.
Roughly one in every 11 deaths in the region is linked to alcohol consumption, resulting in a total of around 800,000 deaths a year—almost a third of the global total of 2.6 million deaths.
To learn more about alcohol consumption patterns across the world, check out this graphic that visualizes each WHO region’s share of people aged 15 and over who consume alcohol.
