While still a nation of beer lovers, Germans are drinking less than before, according to figures from the Federal Ministry of Health. At the same time, binge drinking has become more common among women than it was in previous decades.

Germans are drinking less alcohol

At least when it comes to the long-term trend, Germans are drinking less than they used to, with the amount of drinks consumed having steadily fallen over the past 40 years.

That is according to the Federal Health Ministry’s figures, revealed after a Left Party parliamentary group asked the government how the trend had changed. Overall, people in the federal republic are drinking less beer, wine, sparkling wine and spirits than they were in 1995.

That said, 55,2 percent of the population regularly drink beer, 50,8 percent regularly drink wine and 32,8 percent have drunk spirits in the past month. In comparison to other places, Germany is still considered a high-consumption country. In 2011, Oktoberfest in Munich broke a world record for the most beer drunk at a festival, with no fewer than eight million litres chugged over the three-week-long festival.

Women are more regularly drinking risky amounts

Another trend that the figures revealed is how women’s alcohol consumption habits have changed. While the trend of “risky alcohol use”, which includes binge drinking or heavy drinking, has reduced among men, risky drinking habits among women have remained consistent and even increased slightly.

That said, the trend of binge drinking is on the decrease overall, with 16,4 percent of people in 1995 saying that they had consumed alcohol in a risky way that year, compared to 13 percent in 2021.

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