I just ran across an article in Decanter.com that says China has overtaken the U.K. as the fifth wine-consuming nation in the world.
Here’s the problem with statistics–it’s really hard to know exactly what they are saying.
Doesn’t it sound like the Chinese are drinking a LOT of wine? Not so much. What it’s really saying is that there are a LOT of Chinese and if each one drinks a little, it’s still more than the smaller population in the United Kingdom. Per capita the Chinese drink just 1.9 litres of wine while the statitically losing British drink about 26 litres per person.
By comparison, French and Italian average yearly consumption per adult is expected to be around 50 litres by 2015 while Americans will be consuming an average of 13 litres per capita by the same date. By that year the Chinese will be up to 2 litres and the British down to 24.
To read the whole article, with lots of confusing statistics, follow this link.
The site’s source is Vinexpo from the annual study by The International Wine & Spirit Research.
For another look at the stats, click here.