Production, Consumption and Recent Changes of Consumption of Alcoholic Beverages

Summary If the use of alcohol is divided into two types, the traditional and the new, the significance of the latter type may be stated to have increased, also relatively, during the decade of the 1960s. This is revealed particularly in the increase in the consumption of beer in industrialized countries with a low consumption level and in traditionally wine‐drinking countries. Also the use of wine is becoming more general in other than the traditional wine‐drinking countries. The consumption of hard liquors is rising slowly in almost every country. The rise in the consumption level is explained best by the starting level and in addition, to some extent, the rise in the income available for spending by households.