Alcohol Consumption Per Capita in Hong Kong
- Between 2004 and 2022, the alcohol consumption per capita* of Hong Kong stood between 2.29 and 2.87 litres. Of note, a surge was observed in 2008 due to the increase in net import of beer and wine, following the exemption of duty for wine and liquor of an alcoholic strength not more than 30% since February 2008.
Notes:
* Alcohol consumption per capita is used for monitoring the trend and for international comparison of alcohol consumption at the population level, but may not be able to fully reflect the actual drinking amount in local population. It is because the accuracy of the figure may be affected by many factors, such as stockpiling and tourist consumption, etc. In Hong Kong, alcohol consumption per capita is estimated by the following formula:
# The volume of pure alcohol consumed was estimated from the total volume of alcoholic beverages consumed by assuming that beer is 5% by volume, wine is 13.5% by volume, locally produced spirits ≦30% is 30% by volume and all other spirits are 40% by volume.
** Since the waive of the duty for alcoholic beverages with an alcoholic strength ≦30% in February 2008, duty-paid figures for such locally produced alcohol were not available from 2009 onwards. In this regard, the consumption of such locally produced alcohol was estimated based on some further assumptions:
Sources: Census and Statistics Department, Customs and Excise Department, and company reports of local beer manufacturers.
* Alcohol consumption per capita is used for monitoring the trend and for international comparison of alcohol consumption at the population level, but may not be able to fully reflect the actual drinking amount in local population. It is because the accuracy of the figure may be affected by many factors, such as stockpiling and tourist consumption, etc. In Hong Kong, alcohol consumption per capita is estimated by the following formula:
# The volume of pure alcohol consumed was estimated from the total volume of alcoholic beverages consumed by assuming that beer is 5% by volume, wine is 13.5% by volume, locally produced spirits ≦30% is 30% by volume and all other spirits are 40% by volume.
** Since the waive of the duty for alcoholic beverages with an alcoholic strength ≦30% in February 2008, duty-paid figures for such locally produced alcohol were not available from 2009 onwards. In this regard, the consumption of such locally produced alcohol was estimated based on some further assumptions:
- For beer, the sales revenue of the major local beer producer(s) as reported in the annual report(s) was used to estimate the local production and consumption quantity;
- For wine, its local production was assumed to remain at 0;
- For spirits, the portion of consumption of locally produced spirits (≦30%) among all imported and local spirits was assumed to remain the same as in the year 2007.
Sources: Census and Statistics Department, Customs and Excise Department, and company reports of local beer manufacturers.
- Download Alcohol Consumption Per Capita in Hong Kong 2004-2022 data (in Excel format)