Which Countries Take the Most Shots Per Week?
Russians might be stereotyped as alcoholics, but according to a recent study by Euromonitor, it's actually South Koreans who drink the most. In a metric worthy of Jersey Shore, the study found that Koreans consume around 14 shots of liquor a week while Russians pound just 6. Laaaame.
Quartz lays out the data in a great minimalist infographic (above) that shows Russian alcohol consumption slowly decreasing over the past decade (nowhere to go but down, I guess?) while South Korea and the Philippines' drinking rate grows—the Philippines is catching up on Russia with 5.4 shots a week. In beer country, Austria and Belgium, the liquor consumption rate is staying completely stable at 1.8 shots.
But the underlying problem with the chart is that it doesn't specify what kind of liquor is being consumed on a weekly basis. Koreans might be drinking 14 shots of soju, the distilled rice liquor, but it only contains around 20 percent alcohol rather than vodka's 40.
That means that if Koreans are drinking 14 shots of soju and Russians popping six thimblefuls of their traditional fermented grain alcohol, they're getting about equally wasted. Bottoms up!
Here are the world's top ten shot-taking nations:
- South Korea (13.7)
- Russia (6.3)
- Philippines (5.4)
- Thailand (4.5)
- Japan (4.4)
- Bulgaria (3.9)
- Ukraine (3.9)
- Slovakia (3.8)
- Brazil (3.6)
- U.S. (3.3)
