Alcohol prices in Germany are amongst the lowest in Europe

Retail prices for alcoholic beverages in Germany are amongst the lowest in the European Union, at 14% below the EU average as of October last year, according to Destatis, the country’s federal statistics office.

In new data to coincide with ‘dry January’, when many people abstain from alcohol, Destatis noted that only Italy boasts a retail price for alcohol lower than that of Germany, at 19% below the EU average.

Conversely, Finland boasts the highest prices for alcohol in the EU, at 110% the EU average, while alcohol prices were also elevated in many of the countries bordering Germany, such as Denmark (+23%), Belgium (+13%), and Poland (+9%).

In France (0.9% above) and the Netherlands (0.1%) above, prices were largely in line with the EU average, while slightly lower prices were observed in Austria (-11%) and the Czech Republic (-7%).

Non-alcoholic beverages

The price for non-alcoholic beverages in Germany, by contrast, was 2% higher than the EU average, however neighbouring countries Denmark (+30%) and the Netherlands (+23%) boasted prices for non-alcoholic beverages well above the average.

The most expensive non-alcoholic beverages are found in Latvia, at 46% above the EU average (largely due to the country’s sugar tax), while Czechia (-9%), and France (-3%) offer prices below the average, and Italy is the cheapest in the EU (-18%).

Alcohol consumption

According to Destatis, alcohol consumption in Germany remains ‘comparatively high’ compared to other EU countries – as of 2022, German citizens aged 15 and over consumed 11.2 litres of pure alcohol per capita, the equivalent of 448 glasses of beer (0.5 litres, 5% alcohol by volume).

Germany ranks ninth in per capita alcohol consumption across the EU, tied with France and Portugal. Romania boasts the highest per capita consumption, at 17.1 litres, with Latvia (14.7 litres) and Czechia (13.7 litres) also boasting high consumption.

The lowest alcohol consumption in the EU was recorded in Greece (7.0 litres), Malta (6.2 litres), and Cyprus (5.2 litres). Read more here.