Kirin, owner of Australian mainstream beer brands like Tooheys, XXXX & James Squire, has released their annual Global Beer Consumption Report surveying 170 countries and regions, and it surprisingly shows that Australia drank more beer in 2021.

According to the figures, local volumes were up 1.5% compared to 2020, lifting to 1,852 thousand kl. However, the rise is tempered by the rest of the data, which shows global volumes up by 4.0% over the same period. This meant Australia slipped on the global beer consumption leaderboard from 20th to 22nd, with India & Argentina among the countries to take over us.

China remains the #1 beer-consuming nation, with a staggering 38,093 thousand kl - a figure almost double its nearest competitor, the USA (and growing at 5.6% annually).

You can read the full report here.