Alcohol consumption drops by almost a third in 20 years

A report commissioned by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland shows average consumption of pure alcohol per adult per year has now fallen below 10 litres.

People are drinking less in Ireland with alcohol consumption dropping by almost a third in the last 20 years.

A report commissioned by the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland shows average consumption of pure alcohol per adult per year has now fallen below 10 litres.

Beer is still the most popular drink, but interest in wine continues to grow, with 7.1% more wine drank last year than the year before.

Overall, beer has 42.9% of the Irish alcohol market, followed by wine with 26.7%, and spirits at 22.6%.

Other popular drinks include cider which accounted for 6.2% of the market by volume of alcohol.

The report, by Anthony Foley, associate professor emeritus of economics at Dublin City University, shows people are drinking 31% less now than at the peak seen in 2001.

While the amount of alcohol consumed between last year and the year before marginally increased by 0.9%, due to the rising population there was a 1.5% decrease in the average per adult consumption.

The average consumption dropped from 10.109 litres of pure alcohol per adult to 9.96 litres.

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In all, 42.5m litres of alcohol were drunk in Ireland last year, the report shows.

A Drinks Industry Group of Ireland spokesman said: “The long-term decline in alcohol consumption over the past two decades indicates that Irish adults are enjoying beer, wine, and spirits more moderately.

“We are not just consuming less alcohol, we are consuming differently with the rise in low- or zero-alcohol product consumption evident.”

He said the growth in distillers and brewers across the country is meeting new tastes and preferences for locals and tourists.

He also said the industry group will be calling on the Government in the next budget to introduce an excise tax cut on its products of 15% over the next two years.

“Ireland’s excise tax rate is currently the second highest in the EU and UK,” he said.

The survey follows a separate analysis last month by Ibec group Drinks Ireland which showed interest in non-alcoholic beer is growing.

“Sales of non-alcohol beer grew last year by 18% and production surged by 50% in response to rising consumer demand,” it said.

At 2% market share now, it said this is “an almost 100% increase in market share over the last four years”.