Japan’s Per Capita Consumption of Alcohol Drying Up

End-of-year parties (bōnenkai) and New Year family gatherings have tended to be a time when people drink alcohol in Japan, but the domestic market for alcoholic beverages has been shrinking along with the decreasing population and changing lifestyles. Per capita alcoholic drink consumption was 75.4 liters in fiscal 2022, down by 25% compared to the peak year of consumption in 1992, when the average was 101.8 liters.

Tokyo was the only prefecture where per capita consumption exceeded 100 liters in fiscal 2022, at 102.9 liters. The other prefectures in the Tokyo metropolitan area were all below the national consumption average, with Kanagawa at 66.2 liters, Saitama at 64.9 liters, and Chiba at 63.7 liters. The higher average in Tokyo seems to reflect its large number of restaurants and bars, with some workers having a drink near the office before heading home. Other prefectures with high per capita consumption included Toyama at 96.6 liters, Aomori at 94.1 liters, Kōchi at 91.9 liters, and Akita at 91.1 liters. Meanwhile, the prefecture with the lowest average consumption was Shiga, at 55.4 liters.

The breakdown in consumption by drink category shows that beer consumption peaked in terms of sales volume in 1994, at 7.06 million kiloliters. The volume gradually decreased thereafter, dipping below the 1970 level in 2009 and then falling to just 2.10 million kiloliters by 2021. However, this decline in beer consumption was offset by the rise of beer-flavored products, such as the low-malt happōshu and malt-free “third-beer” beverages, so it cannot be said that Japanese have lost their fondness for the taste of beer.

Consumption of sake in Japan has declined significantly despite the attention the drink has been gaining overseas, including the recent recognition by UNESCO of the traditional knowledge and techniques of making sake with kōji mold as “intangible cultural heritage.” Consumption of sake in 2022 was just 422,000 kiloliters, less than a third of the level in 1970, when it totaled 1.57 million kiloliters.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)