Ireland Wins OECD Drinking Contest

Pardon the headline, but I could not resist it after noticing this nugget from the OECD Health Data 2009: Ireland consumes 13.4 litres of alcohol per capita beating all OECD countries for which data was available in 2007. The Irish had to fend off stiff competition from the Czechs and Danes (12.1 litres per capita). Surprisingly, the British (11.2 litres per capita) did not even finish in the top three! The Finns finished fourth with 10.5 litres per capita. There was no data for the US in 2007, but in 2006 they consumed a mere 8.6 litres per capita.

The Irish might need to work harder to maintain top place as recent years show declining consumption: from a peak of 14.5 litres in 2001, consumption has declined steadily to stabilise at 13.4 over the last couple of years.