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Data

Alcohol consumption per capita

About this data

Source
Holmes and Anderson (2017) – processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
February 14, 2019
Date range
1890–2014
Unit
liters of pure alcohol

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

Holmes and Anderson – Convergence in national alcohol consumption patterns: New global indicators

Average per capita alcohol consumption in select high-income countries from 1890 to 2014.

This is given as the average per capita level of consumption (not level per average adult); it may therefore not be directly comparable with modern statistics of per capita consumption for populations 15+ years.

Estimates in the original paper are given for particular decades e.g. "1920s", "1940s". For this dataset we have allocated this figure to the first year in this period e.g. 1920 and 1940.

Retrieved on
February 14, 2019
Retrieved from
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-wine-economics/article/convergence-in-national-alcohol-consumption-patterns-new-global-indicators/C3E116C7FB7062BA5134E7377E8537DA
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Holmes, A. J., & Anderson, K. (2017). Convergence in national alcohol consumption patterns: New global indicators. Journal of Wine Economics, 12(2), 117-148.

Average per capita alcohol consumption in select high-income countries from 1890 to 2014.

This is given as the average per capita level of consumption (not level per average adult); it may therefore not be directly comparable with modern statistics of per capita consumption for populations 15+ years.

Estimates in the original paper are given for particular decades e.g. "1920s", "1940s". For this dataset we have allocated this figure to the first year in this period e.g. 1920 and 1940.

Retrieved on
February 14, 2019
Retrieved from
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-wine-economics/article/convergence-in-national-alcohol-consumption-patterns-new-global-indicators/C3E116C7FB7062BA5134E7377E8537DA
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Holmes, A. J., & Anderson, K. (2017). Convergence in national alcohol consumption patterns: New global indicators. Journal of Wine Economics, 12(2), 117-148.

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline

Reuse this work

  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
  • All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Alcohol consumption per capita”. Our World in Data (2026). Data adapted from Holmes and Anderson. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260511-092124/grapher/per-capita-alcohol-1890.html [online resource] (archived on May 11, 2026).

How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

Holmes and Anderson (2017) – processed by Our World in Data

Full citation

Holmes and Anderson (2017) – processed by Our World in Data. “Alcohol consumption per capita” [dataset]. Holmes and Anderson, “Convergence in national alcohol consumption patterns: New global indicators” [original data]. Retrieved May 11, 2026 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260511-092124/grapher/per-capita-alcohol-1890.html (archived on May 11, 2026).

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