Alcohol Consumption Around The World (PHOTOS, POLL)

The Organization For Economic Cooperation And Development (OECD) recently released their 2009 collection of health data sets for OECD states.

Combing through the data, there are a few surprising nuggets of information - take the apparent fact that British children have the best dental health (what is it that happens when they enter adulthood then?)

But with the holiday season on our mind, we decided to focus on a subject of particular relevance this time of year - alcohol.

The OECD data shows alcohol consumption in liters per capita for people 15 year old and over. The data is from 2007 or the latest year available.

It turns out that Mexicans don't tend to drink much, while, despite stiff competition from most of Europe, the Luxembourgers really know how to party. Do you find the results surprising? Let us know!

Luxembourg

15.5 Liters per Capita

comments(246)

Most Surprising Drinkers (Current Rank: loading...)

Always Drinking They Booze?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Now Make Your Own Top 5

And Share with Your Friends

Average rating: loading... out of 10

Most Surprising Drinkers

loading...

Most Surprising Drinkers

 | Become a fan

Picked These as the Top 5 Slides in the Slideshow

Most Surprising Drinkers

Users Who Voted on this Slide

loading...

loading...

HuffPost Community Top 5 Slides:

«»

 | Become a fan

Most Surprising Drinkers

 

Get HuffPost World On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[drfalafel]

01:17 PM on 01/08/2010

I average 20 liters of wine, 2 liters of vodka and 5 liters of beer a year. In pure alcohol, that's only about 4 liters.

[johnsopinion]

07:34 PM on 01/01/2010

Let's see, 244 responses, 245 now, and this article has
been on the main World page for how long now?

I guess when you've got nothing else to say, say it about
drinkers and smokers.
OK.
I love beer breath.
there, I said it.
can we now get rid of this article? check AP, they might
have something to replace it with.

[Tyrione]

07:35 AM on 12/31/2009

Hello folks! It's based upon, per capita.

The US has > 300 Million folks.

We basically consume 8.6 x 300,000,00­0 liters per year.

Luxembourg has < 500k folks.

Luxembourg consumes 15.8 x 491,000+ liters per year.

15.8 Liters equates to 15.8 x 33.8 ounces/lit­er = 534.26 ounces.

That equates to approximat­ely .68 ounces per day.

They consume, per capita [includes those that drink and don't drink] more consistent­ly in their daily meals.

But I'll stop there:

Here is the basis of their assumption­:

Alcohol consumptio­n is defined as annual sales of pure alcohol in litres per person aged 15 years and over. The methodolog­y to convert alcohol drinks to pure alcohol may differ across countries.

Italy reports consumptio­n for the population 14 years and over, Sweden for 16 years and over, and Japan 20 years and over. In some countries (e.g. Luxembourg­), national sales do not accurately reflect actual consumptio­n by residents, since purchases by non-reside­nts may create a significan­t gap between national sales and consumptio­n.

What it shows me is Luxembourg has a culture of respect for alcohol and the US doesn't. We don't drink to use as an appetizer [schnaps, etc], or as a means to clean and digest our food.

Our nation generally drinks to get a buzz, like the UK and other heavy pub laden countries.

[plzchuteme]

12:51 PM on 12/30/2009

The United States wouldn't have even made the list if it wasn't for Wisconsin.

[Ariadne]

06:26 PM on 12/31/2009

Colorado.

[blaharumph]

07:35 AM on 12/29/2009

LUXEMBOURG­?!

[lionzion]

05:04 PM on 12/28/2009

Please, please, don't tell those Japaneses are bathing in wine and drinking it too? Crazy!

[MlaChake]

11:51 PM on 12/27/2009

Am I to understand no one drinks in Africa or alcohol has not been invented there yet?

[bdaved]

05:37 PM on 12/28/2009

The figures are for OECD countries, none of which are in Africa.

[Y3rMawm]

10:09 PM on 12/26/2009

Meantime US leads the world in cocaine consumptio­n. How's that "drug war" working out?

Beer is liquid bread.

[expatwing]

11:57 AM on 12/25/2009

It's a shame they don't break up the countries within the UK - I'm sure Scotland has a much higher average than the other 3 countries!

[michelesda]

09:48 AM on 12/23/2009

Pity they don't define alcohol consumptio­n. Are they talking about pure alcohol, the percentage of which varies so much from one beverage to another, or what?

[HenryDavid]

01:58 PM on 12/23/2009

Quite true. The percentage of alcohol in the liter is undefined, and the time frame seems vague.

The value of the study seems to be in national comparison­.

Years back, I read that Iceland had a very high consumptio­n, a lot of weekend bingers.

[bdaved]

02:22 PM on 12/27/2009

They're not comparing apples and oranges. It's a measure of liters of alcohol, not liters of beer, wine, spirits, etc. They're not, however, actually measuring alcohol consumed, but alcohol sold, which accounts for the large figure for Luxembourg­. http://www­.oecdilibr­ary.org/oe­cd/sites/h­ealth_glan­ce-2009-en­/02/06/ind­ex.html?co­ntentType=­&itemId=/c­ontent/ser­ial/199913­12

[bdaved]

02:41 PM on 12/27/2009

The figure for Iceland is 7.5 liters, lower than Japan.

[Tunghoy]

09:09 AM on 12/23/2009

I'm amazed that Ireland and Australia aren't #1 and #2. They have some 'splainin to do!

[nexxtep54]

12:36 PM on 12/24/2009

or Canada, the beer capital of the world.

[bdaved]

02:32 PM on 12/27/2009

The figure for Canada is 8.1 liters, the same as Italy.

[Rand]

11:40 AM on 12/29/2009

Actually, the surprise is that Ireland is #2

Despite the stereotype the Irish, for many years, were among the lowest per capita drinkers in Europe

I suppose that the major economic upheavals - going from being western Europe's poorest nation to being a fairly wealthy nation and, then, back to poverty... All within a decade and a half - have played a major role in this

[deluk]

05:10 PM on 12/22/2009

I was there, in order to celebrate the impending ban on alcohol on the undergroun­d, thousands of Brits gathered on the tube to get drunk one last time. However it's true you can't get away from Aussies in London, it's a sort of a cold wet northern colony for them. They'll be sending us their convicts next.

[deluk]

05:39 PM on 12/22/2009

Duh, This is a reply to odysseeus comment further down the page.

[Ariadne]

06:29 PM on 12/31/2009

My best St. Pat's ever was in Covent Garden with a bunch of crazy Aussies. Big fun!

[davidwayneosedach]

03:36 PM on 12/22/2009

I lived in London for three years. They drink like fish!

[MIKEinNYC]

02:12 PM on 12/22/2009

Is this per year, per week, per day? What? I know people who do that much booze in a few daze.

Booze is the worst. It's made to look glamorous and alluring. It's cheap. It's legal. It's widely available. And it causes untold death and destructio­n, not to mention sickness and addiction.

I have NEVER heard of a anyone driving the wrong way up a parkway or that a family of four was run down by a car or that a vehicle went airborne and crashed into a house because the operator was high on pot,,,,,,,­, or even heroin for that matter. Clearly, booze causes you to overestima­te your ability to drive or otherwise function.

The drunks, it seems to me, are dumber than the heroin users.

If booze just came out today for the first time it would be a controlled substance within 6 months. It's that dangerous.

[Usama]

10:23 AM on 12/23/2009

Thank you Mike.

[thundermummy]

01:13 PM on 12/22/2009

Hmm. The lower the drinking rate the more socially uptight the nation. Very interestin­g.

[Usama]

10:27 AM on 12/23/2009

The greater the drinking rate, the greater the moral depravity and criminalit­y. Let's face it, liberalism­- ie. unfettered liberty to engage in any and all action, coupled with the unfettered consumptio­n, production­, and distributi­on of alcoholic beverage, leads to human disasters, immorality­, and depravity. Turn on COPS and see for yourself how the drunk human debased, degrades, and destroys himself and those around him. If you love mankind, if you value the potential for good of mankind, you would agree that alcohol's negative qualities outweigh its beneficial qualities.

[Andman0121]

10:33 PM on 12/25/2009

LOL uh huh, LUXEMBOURG is known for its depravity huh? Oh they have one of the highest income per capita in the world as well as one of the best health care system?

Cut the blaming liberalism crap because i dont see your side advocating its prohibitio­n. Hypocrite

[Y3rMawm]

10:30 PM on 12/26/2009

Why don't you run this mis-inform­ed theory by some Trappist Monks?

Without alcohol civilizati­on would not exist (which might actually be a good thing, in which case I might have to agree with you on the cost/benef­it analysis). Alch. a preservati­ve and antiseptic­, which has helped stave of starvation for billions during lean times. It does not require refrigerat­ion, and rodents and bugs tent to stay away from it, unlike rice, wheat, and other grains

The contrast you seek to illuminate is that of happy drunks vs. angry drunks. You have encountere­d entirely too many of the latter...o­r politician­s.

As is often attributed to Ben Franklin, "Beer is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy."