04/26/2011

Beer Drinking and What It Says About China’s Economy

The average Chinese adult drank about a half a bottle of beer in 1961, less than the average resident of Iran. By 1991, consumption topped 27 bottles a year, but still lagged behind 117 other nations, according to the World Health Organization.

By 2007, the Chinese were drinking almost 103 beers per adult a year. While that’s still considerably less per capita than in beer gardens like the Czech Republic (where the average adult drinks about 471 beers a year) it’s enough to make China by far the world’s largest market for beer.

That story can be repeated for any number of consumer goods, of course. But what’s interesting about beer is that the trend is not likely to last. A paper by two economists at the University of Leuven, in beer-loving Belgium, finds that people drink more beer as their incomes rise, until they make about $22,000 a year.

Then they start drinking less beer.

Read more at The New York Times

Apr 26, 2011 8:12:46 AM | Economy, Food and Drink

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