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Repentant sinners: Namibians reduce booze consumption
Repentant sinners: Namibians reduce booze consumption

Repentant sinners: Namibians reduce booze consumption

Cindy Van Wyk
ELLANIE SMIT



WINDHOEK

Latest statistics show there was a massive decline in the amount of alcohol consumed by Namibians 15 years and older – even before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Statistics compiled by the World Health Organisation (WHO) from 2019 in its world health statistics 2021 report indicate that Namibians consume 3.1 litres of pure alcohol per person a year.

In 2017, the WHO reported that Namibians consumed 11.8 litres of pure alcohol per person a year.

Namibia was at that time also the highest consumer of alcohol in Africa.

According to the latest statistics, Namibia now falls among the 20 nations that drink the least on the continent.

In Africa, Uganda was ranked the country that drank the most at 12.5 litres of pure alcohol per person per year, followed by Tanzania at 12 litres and then Burkina Faso with 11 litres.

The African nation that drank the least was Mauritania at zero litres of alcohol per person a year, while Namibia with its 3.1 litres of alcohol consumption per capita per year, ranked 20th on this list.

Taste for beer

However, it seems the Land of the Brave has not lost its taste for beer, being ranked as one the top 10 countries when it comes to the consumption of the beverage per capita.

Japan’s Kirin Beer University has released the results of its annual survey on global beer consumption for the last relevant year, pre-pandemic 2019.

The latest figures reveal that the biggest beer drinking nation in the world is the Czech Republic, at 188.6 litres per capita.

Austrians and Romanians are second and third, drinking 107.8 litres and 100.3 litres per capita respectively, with the Germans in fourth place, knocking back 99 litres per capita in the year.

Namibia features very high on the list, coming in sixth in the world, drinking 99.5 litres of beer per capita in a year, which is 22.4 bottles more than the previous year and a total consumption of 248 million litres per year.

Kirin has tracked global consumption since 1975, drawing its data from brewers’ associations and industry statistics around the world.

In 2016, Namibia ranked 52nd out of 186 nations globally, while beer was the number one choice of drink in the country.

Boozy bunch

Data compiled by the WHO’s alcohol per capita consumption table, which tracked the heaviest drinking countries from 2000 to 2016, indicated that Namibians consumed 7.84 litres per person a year.

According to these statistics, the total consumption of alcohol per person had increased from 5.73 to 7.84 litre since 2000 to 2011.

During that same period, Namibians consumed less wine, with the consumption dropping from 0.88 to 0.06 litre per person.

Beer had, however, increased from 3.60 to 7.30 litres in that period and spirits increased from 0.21 to 0.80 litres per person.

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Namibian Sun 2025-02-12

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Katima Mulilo: 19° | 27° Rundu: 19° | 26° Eenhana: 18° | 22° Oshakati: 19° | 24° Ruacana: 19° | 22° Tsumeb: 19° | 25° Otjiwarongo: 18° | 28° Omaruru: 20° | 31° Windhoek: 19° | 30° Gobabis: 19° | 28° Henties Bay: 18° | 22° Wind speed: 21km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 09:43, High tide: 03:43, Low Tide: 21:49, High tide: 15:55 Swakopmund: 17° | 18° Wind speed: 17km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 09:41, High tide: 03:41, Low Tide: 21:47, High tide: 15:53 Walvis Bay: 17° | 21° Wind speed: 21km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 09:41, High tide: 03:40, Low Tide: 21:47, High tide: 15:52 Rehoboth: 20° | 32° Mariental: 23° | 35° Keetmanshoop: 26° | 36° Aranos: 22° | 33° Lüderitz: 19° | 35° Ariamsvlei: 24° | 36° Oranjemund: 16° | 26° Luanda: 25° | 27° Gaborone: 20° | 28° Lubumbashi: 17° | 21° Mbabane: 17° | 31° Maseru: 16° | 28° Antananarivo: 17° | 24° Lilongwe: 19° | 27° Maputo: 21° | 37° Windhoek: 19° | 30° Cape Town: 18° | 22° Durban: 21° | 27° Johannesburg: 16° | 28° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 31° Lusaka: 18° | 23° Harare: 17° | 23° Currency: GBP to NAD 22.98 | EUR to NAD 19.19 | CNY to NAD 2.53 | USD to NAD 18.52 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.29 | EGP to NAD 0.36 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.65 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.2 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.21 | USD to DZD 135.45 | USD to AOA 912 | USD to BWP 13.86 | USD to EGP 50.64 | USD to KES 129.22 | USD to NGN 1498.78 | USD to ZAR 18.52 | USD to ZMW 27.95 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 87562.75 Down -0.23% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1776.45 Down -1.17% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 16272.94 Down -0.46% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 29564.21 Down -1.14% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 10080.51 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 894.98/OZ DOWN -0.0013 | Copper US$ 4.62/lb UP +0.95% | Zinc US$ 2 867.00/T UP 1.11% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 76.25/BBP DOWN -0.0127 | Platinum US$ 1 033.73/OZ UP +0.67% Sport results: Weather: Katima Mulilo: 19° | 27° Rundu: 19° | 26° Eenhana: 18° | 22° Oshakati: 19° | 24° Ruacana: 19° | 22° Tsumeb: 19° | 25° Otjiwarongo: 18° | 28° Omaruru: 20° | 31° Windhoek: 19° | 30° Gobabis: 19° | 28° Henties Bay: 18° | 22° Wind speed: 21km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 09:43, High tide: 03:43, Low Tide: 21:49, High tide: 15:55 Swakopmund: 17° | 18° Wind speed: 17km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 09:41, High tide: 03:41, Low Tide: 21:47, High tide: 15:53 Walvis Bay: 17° | 21° Wind speed: 21km/h, Wind direction: W, Low tide: 09:41, High tide: 03:40, Low Tide: 21:47, High tide: 15:52 Rehoboth: 20° | 32° Mariental: 23° | 35° Keetmanshoop: 26° | 36° Aranos: 22° | 33° Lüderitz: 19° | 35° Ariamsvlei: 24° | 36° Oranjemund: 16° | 26° Luanda: 25° | 27° Gaborone: 20° | 28° Lubumbashi: 17° | 21° Mbabane: 17° | 31° Maseru: 16° | 28° Antananarivo: 17° | 24° Lilongwe: 19° | 27° Maputo: 21° | 37° Windhoek: 19° | 30° Cape Town: 18° | 22° Durban: 21° | 27° Johannesburg: 16° | 28° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 31° Lusaka: 18° | 23° Harare: 17° | 23° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 22.98 | EUR to NAD 19.19 | CNY to NAD 2.53 | USD to NAD 18.52 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.29 | EGP to NAD 0.36 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.65 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.2 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.21 | USD to DZD 135.45 | USD to AOA 912 | USD to BWP 13.86 | USD to EGP 50.64 | USD to KES 129.22 | USD to NGN 1498.78 | USD to ZAR 18.52 | USD to ZMW 27.95 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 87562.75 Down -0.23% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1776.45 Down -1.17% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 16272.94 Down -0.46% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 29564.21 Down -1.14% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 10080.51 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 894.98/OZ DOWN -0.0013 | Copper US$ 4.62/lb UP +0.95% | Zinc US$ 2 867.00/T UP 1.11% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 76.25/BBP DOWN -0.0127 | Platinum US$ 1 033.73/OZ UP +0.67%