Does that sound about right?
The average Irish person consumes approximately 400 pints of beer a year according to a new OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) report on harmful drinking in the 34 OECD member states.
Ireland ranks fourth out of 34 countries in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) when it comes to alchol consumption per capita, behind Austria, France and Estonia, the nation of the heaviest drinkers in the OECD.
Graph via CNBC.com
The report states that Irish people drank 11.6 litres of pure alcohol in 2012, which breaks down at just over 400 pints of beer with an alcohol level of approximately five per cent per adult.
The figure is above the OECD average of 9.1 litres per capita, but provisional estimates for 2014 show a slight drop to 11 litres per capita according to the OECD report.
Intrestingly, Ireland is well down the list when it comes to the percentage of 15-year olds in the population who have drunk alcohol; by way of comparison, the figure in the Czech Republic is over 90 per cent.
Graph via OECD
Just under 70 per cent of the alcohol consumed in Ireland, meanwhile, is drank by the 20% of the Irish population who drink the most.
Again, Ireland features pretty high on the list when it comes to that particular stat, although we’re well below Hungary where approximately 90 per cent of all alcohol is consumed by the 20 per cent who drink the most.
Graph via OECD
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