How much are households spending on alcohol?

In 2019, households in the EU spent €117 billion (equivalent to 0.8% of EU GDP) on ‘alcoholic beverages’. This represents 1.6% of their total consumption expenditure. It should be noted that this does not include alcoholic beverages paid for in restaurants and hotels.

Among EU Member States, the share of total consumption expenditure spent on alcoholic beverages was the highest in three Baltic States: Latvia (4.8%), Estonia (4.7%) and Lithuania (3.7%). In contrast, the figure was below 1% in Greece and Italy (each 0.9%).

Lithuania - highest decrease in alcohol expenditure, Romania the highest increase

Between 2009 and 2019, the share of total household expenditure on alcohol decreased in 13 EU Member States with available data. The largest decrease was recorded in Lithuania (from 5.5% of total household expenditure in 2009 to 3.7% in 2019, -1.8 percentage points (pp)), followed by Latvia (-1.5 pp), Bulgaria (-1.3 pp) and Estonia (-1.1 pp).

In contrast, household expenditure on alcohol increased in seven EU Member States with the largest increases recorded in Romania (from 2.1% of total household expenditure in 2009 to 2.6% in 2019, +0.5 pp) and Portugal (from 1.1% of total household expenditure in 2009 to 1.4% in 2019, +0.3 pp).

In six EU Member States - Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Slovenia - this share remained stable. CIJ EUROPE looks forward to publishing the 2020 households spending on alcohol later this year when the number are published!