N.Z. fifth-heaviest in beer drinking

Press, 26 January 1979, Page 1

N.Z. fifth-heaviest in beer drinking

NZPA London New Zealand was fifth in the international beerdrinking league in 1977, according to statistics given in London yesterday.

A world survey by the British Brewers’ Society shows New Zealanders drank 225.6 pints (128.2 litres) during the year for every man, woman, and child in the country. Note: 128 litres is equivalent to 57 flagons. West Germany was easily top of the table, drinking 148.7 litres per head of population: Australia and Czechoslovakia were equal second with a consumption of 135.9 litres.

Then came Belgium (130 litres), followed by New Zealand. After New Zealand were Denmark, East Germany, Ireland, Luxemburg, Britain, Austria , the United States, Canada, Hungary.

Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Spain and France. At the bottom of the 35nation list was South Africa.

The survey, published in “Brewing Review,” said that beer consumption in New Zealand in the 10 years to 1977 had increased more than 33 per cent in spite of a sharp increase in consumption of wine during the same decade.

The greatest percentage change had been in Finland, where beer drinking had increased 108.8 per cent over the period. The Soviet Union (twentyninth in the individual bee r-drinking stakes) showed a 95.3 per cent increase in total beer consumption. The “Review” said that increasing prosperity in Western Europe was thought to have played a big part in the sharply increased beer drinking.

In Spain, the influx of British and German tourists in the last 10' years had probably been largely responsible for the growth in consumption there. In the Soviet Union, the Government has followed an active beer-drinking promotion scheme in an attempt to reduce the high intake of vodka and other hard liquor. The United States produces easily the most beer in the world: its 1977 production of 122,000 bulk barrels — more than double that of West Germany, the second-biggest producer with almost 58,000 bulk barrels.

An earlier report on New Zealand drinking is printed on Page 5. It says that the annual consumption of all types of alcohol is the equivalent of two 44-gallon drums of beer per head of population.