South Africa is among the world’s biggest consumers of alcohol. Statista data from 2019 suggest that the countries with the highest per capita consumption of alcohol include Czechia, Latvia, and the Republic of Moldova, but earlier data from the World Health Organization (2016) show that those in SA who drink, drink heavily. Tunisians are top of the pops, consuming the most alcohol per capita in the world, at 35 litres (drinkers only), with South Africa at a drinkers-only per capita consumption of 30 litres.
The latest Maps data, a nationally representative survey of more than 20,000 South Africans, available on Eighty20’s Data Portal, shows that about half of all South Africans drank some form of alcohol in the past month. Men are the biggest consumers, with 62% drinking alcohol weekly or monthly, compared with 36% of women.
In terms of the gender split by category, men consume 72% of the beer, 70% of the brandy, and 66% of the whisky drunk in SA.
About 58% of women favour Champagne/sparkling wine and flavoured alcoholic beverages, 51% favour bottled wine and 49% boxed wine.
In 2013, the top-selling beer was Castle Lager, followed by Castle Lite, Carling Black Label, Heineken and Hansa Pilsener. Ten years later, 2023 sees Carling at number one, other brands (which include a massive influx of small independent brands and craft beers) second, followed by Castle Lite, then Flying Fish and Heineken - bumping Castle Lager from the top five, as smaller brands gained a foothold in the beer sector.
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