One thing’s for certain: the world loves to get tipsy. However, what you put in that cup varies greatly depending on which country you’re in—as you can see above in one handy map, which was compiled by Ghost in the Data using data taken from the World Health Organization.

Each country’s most widely consumed drink is represented by a different color: yellow for beer, blue for spirits, and red for wine. The map is completely interactive, so you can check out each country’s particular alcohol preference and see great visual representations of how the data breaks down.

For example, the U.S. prefers beer, but spirits and wine aren’t far behind. Each wine, beer, or vodka graphic represents the average number of each type of alcohol consumed per person (aged 15+) per week.


This data is particularly interesting because according to a Gallup poll performed about a year ago, U.S. wine preference at the time was closing in on our beer preference, with liquor left distinctly in third place.The primary reason that was given: younger drinkers are increasingly choosing wine and liquor over beer. (Photo: Ghost in the Data)

gallup liquor wine beer poll 2013

Still, WHO data shows that beer still reigns supreme in the U.S., where we just love our lager. That’s right, it’s the light offerings from Big Beer that are the most popular, despite a rise in craft beer consumption in recent years. (Graph: The Atlantic)

Meanwhile, Russia is all about vodka—possibly even more than you thought. Though the country wouldn’t say no to a beer, either.

world booze map russia

Do other spirits besides vodka even exist in Russia? Shut your mouth.

In other news that you probably already suspected, France still loves its wine. How much does it love its wine? Enough that the country drinks an average of two bottles of wine per 15+ person per week. France is over here like, “Beer? Qu’est-ce que c’est?”

world booze map france

Still, no matter where you go in the world, apparently we’re all lagging behind South Korea in the world drinking stakes. According to Euromonitor data compiled earlier this year by Quartz, South Koreans average an astounding 13.7 shots of hard liquor per week.

What kind of liquor? Mostly soju—which the Guardian incidentally found was the single most popular spirit in the world as of December 2013.


Russia comes in second, averaging just 6.3 shots per person of legal drinking age per week—or less than half what South Korea consumes. (Graph: Quartz)

What can we learn from this? It seems fairly safe to say that each country tends to prefer the booze that it personally does best at producing. That’s not to say that the most popular thing is necessarily the best.

thank you alcohol

[via Vox, Ghost in the Data]

RELATED: Map Shows Liquor Preferences Around the World