Kerala per capita liquor consumption equal to US

August 6, 2010

Kochi: Is Kerala in the league of top liquor guzzling nations of the world? Statistics show that the per capita liquor consumption of the state (8.3 litres) is equal to that of the Unites States of America and higher than that of Poland (8.1 litres) and Italy (8 litres).

Kerala tops the list of states with highest rate of per capita consumption of alcohol. Punjab with 7.9 litres takes the second place. In the first financial quarter Keralites drank 68.32 lakh cases of hard liquor and 26.92 lakh cases of beer taking the money spend to Rs 2019.38 crores. The state government earned taxes to the tune of Rs 1653.87 crores.

The figures when taken together with the population of the state shows that every Keralite drinks liquor worth Rs 1340 every year.

Kerala earned Rs 5040 crores in taxes last year from the liquor sale last year. If the sales figures for the months April 2010 to July 2010 are any indication the state will earn revenue of Rs 6500 crores by the way of liquor taxes alone.

When compared to the financial quarter last year Kerala has consumed 6.70 lakh cases of liquor and 1.29 lakh cases of beer more this year.

When someone buys liquor worth Rs 100 from a beverages outlet government gets Rs 80. Rs 18 will go to the liquor manufacturer and Rs 2 to the beverages corporation.


Alcohol Consumption by country (OECD health data)

Rank Countries Amount
1 Luxembourg: 15.5 litres per capita
2 France: 14.8 litres per capita
3 Ireland: 13.5 litres per capita
4 Hungary: 13.4 litres per capita
5 Czech Republic: 12.1 litres per capita
6 Spain: 11.7 litres per capita
7 Denmark: 11.5 litres per capita
8 Portugal: 11.4 litres per capita
9 United Kingdom: 11.2 litres per capita
10 Austria: 11.1 litres per capita
11 Switzerland: 10.8 litres per capita
12 Belgium: 10.7 litres per capita
13 Germany: 10.2 litres per capita
14 Australia: 9.8 litres per capita
15 Netherlands: 9.7 litres per capita
16 Finland: 9.3 litres per capita
16 Korea, South: 9.3 litres per capita
18 Greece: 9.2 litres per capita
19 New Zealand: 8.9 litres per capita
20 United States: 8.3 litres per capita
21 Poland: 8.1 litres per capita
22 Italy: 8 litres per capita
23 Canada: 7.8 litres per capita
24 Japan: 7.6 litres per capita
24 Slovakia: 7.6 litres per capita
26 Sweden: 7 litres per capita
27 Iceland: 6.5 litres per capita
28 Norway: 6 litres per capita
29 Mexico: 4.6 litres per capita
30 Turkey: 1.5 litres per capita

Some times the only creditable acivement of the C.P.M led Kerala govt.