The most consumed type of alcohol around the world

Using data from the World Health Organization, this map breaks down alcohol consumption into four key categories, measured in liters of pure alcohol per capita (age 15+). This approach allows for a like-for-like comparison across beverages with very different strengths.

🍺 Beer

Beer dominates in many parts of the world, particularly in Europe, the Americas, and parts of Africa.

This category includes:

• lagers, ales, stouts, and porters.
• wheat beers and craft varieties.
• low- and mid-strength fermented grain beverages.

Despite its relatively low alcohol content, beer often leads due to high volume consumption.

🥃 Spirits

Spirits represent distilled alcohol, typically with a much higher alcohol content.

This category includes:

• vodka, whiskey, rum, gin, tequila.
• brandy and cognac.
• distilled local beverages (e.g., shōchū, baijiu).
• many liqueurs.

In Eastern Europe and parts of Asia, spirits dominate due to cultural preferences and historical production patterns.

🍷 Wine

Wine consumption is concentrated in regions with strong winemaking traditions.

This category includes:

• red, white, and rosé wines.
• sparkling wines (e.g., champagne, prosecco).
• fortified wines (e.g., port, sherry).

Southern and Western Europe, along with parts of South America, stand out as global wine strongholds.

🍶 Other Alcoholic Beverages

This is the most diverse and often misunderstood category.

It includes:

• fermented drinks that are not beer or grape wine.
• cider and perry (apple/pear-based).
• sake (rice-based).
• mead (honey-based).
• palm wine and sorghum-based beverages.
• traditional and regional drinks.
• some forms of home-produced or informal alcohol.

In many countries, a high “Other” share signals the importance of local traditions or unrecorded consumption that falls outside standardized categories.