News In Brief

The world’s most caffeinated countries

Daryl Paranada Apr 30, 2010

Hmm? Did America top the list? According to Businessweek, although the U.S. consumes the most coffee, it “can’t crack the top 10 on a per-capita basis.” Part of the reason for that, according to researchers, is that Americans like a lot of milk in their coffee — just think lattes.

So who is the big winner here? Turns out, it’s Finland. People who live in colder climates tend to be big coffee drinkers — the Scandinavian countries are well represented in Euromonitor International’s list of the 50 most caffeinated countries.

You can find a list of the top 10 below…

All in all, researchers say coffee consumption tends to rise as a country’s middle-class expands. In fact, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says he expects China, with its emerging middle class, to become the coffee chain’s biggest customer outside the United States. As for where the U.S. is on the list, we clock in at number 16. Does that surprise you? Slovenia, Poland, Australia, Belgium and Costa Rica are numbers 11-15.

The top 10 most caffeinated countries and liters per capita:

  1. Finland: 608.2
  2. Norway: 322.6
  3. Denmark: 180.6
  4. Germany: 145.9
  5. Slovakia: 144.6
  6. Czech Republic: 142.8
  7. Sweden: 139
  8. United: Kingdom: 134.7
  9. Canada: 125.6
  10. Greece: 116.2

Data: Euromonitor. Find the whole list here.

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