Alcohol Consumption Changing

A Medical Journal, The Lancet released results of research on levels of consumption of alcoholic beverages.  The study found significant increases from 21 billion liters to 35.7 billion liters, a 70% increase.  Driving up the numbers are low and middle income countries, especially in Southeast Asia where consumption went up 34% from 1990 to 2017.  The country of  Moldover comes in as highest consumer with inhabitants consuming an average of 15 liters of pure alcohol per year as of 2017. Kuwait sported the lowest rate of imbibing averaging 0.05% per annum.    If this trend continues, and it is expected to do so at least through 2030,  Europe will be surplanted as the highest consumer of alcoholic beverages.      The numbers seem to show a shift in the consumption patterns of the past.

In Vietnam, alcohol consumption skyrocketed nearly 90 percent while India also recorded a dramatic 37.2 percent increase. In many developed countries such as Spain, the UK, Canada and Australia, people have started drinking less. In Russia, consumption also fell 3.5 percent. The research also looked at the share of people worldwide who abstain from alcohol completely. The prevalence of abstinence fell from 46 percent in 1990 to 43 percent in 2017.