Beer, the preferred alcoholic drink of all? Changes in the global and national beer consumption since 1960 and convergence and trends since the 1990s

Abstract

Levels of beer consumption worldwide have mostly been unstable after World War II. A sustained growth occurred in Europe and the US in the period 1950-1980, mainly associated with technological innovations and increasing incomes which lowered real prices and increased demand. However, since then beer consumption has shown markedly different patterns across countries. Per capita consumption declined in all major beer-producing countries, with consumers switching to other beverages due to wider choice and higher incomes (Poelmans and Swinnen, 2011a, b). In contrast, per capita consumption grew tremendously in emerging countries such as China, Russia, Brazil and India (Arora et al., 2011; Bai et al., 2011; Deconinck and Swinnen, 2011).