Wisconsin - Outdrinking Your State since 1848, Unless You Are from New Hampshire, Washington D.C, Nevada, or Delaware

When I moved to Erie, Pennsylvania for graduate school, I experienced somewhat of a culture shock. There were many reasons for this, but it was largely due to cultural attitudes towards alcohol. I am from a state where we sell beer at the concession stand at Little League games, so you can imagine my surprise when we were told to put our beers away at a men's rugby tournament. In addition to Pennsylvania's asinine alcohol laws (even more asinine than Wisconsin's) and the level of difficulty in stocking your favorite beverages (you have to go to two separate stores to buy liquor and wine and beer, and you have to buy beer by the case from a beer store. I know, asinine.), the people of Pennsylvania just don't drink like the people in Wisconsin. They don't tailgate at baseball games, they can't take their kids to bars, and their drink specials at bars end by midnight and everyone goes home. I wanted to see which states can keep up with Wisconsin, and which ones can't even keep up with Pennsylvania, as well as see where the US's drinking habits compare to the rest of the world.

I collected 2007 data on alcohol consumption annually per capita for each state, based on alcohol sales, from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). The figures were given in gallons, but I have converted them to liters to make it easier to compare internationally.

The number one drinking state by a long shot is New Hampshire, where the average person purchases 4.22 gallons (15.97 L) of alcohol per year. If New Hampshire were a country, this would put it in second place in the world. The rest of the top five includes Washington D.C. (3.95 gal. / 14.95 L), Nevada (3.61 gal. / 13.67 L), Delaware (3.23 gal. / 12.23 L), and Wisconsin (2.98 gal. / 11.28 L). If all of the states and the District of Columbia were countries, Washington D.C. would rank third in the world. Nevada would rank fifth in the world. None of the other states would break the top 10. Wisconsin would be tied in 23rd with Denmark and Palau.

The top five driest states are:

1. Utah (1.34 gal. / 5.07 L)
2. West Virginia (1.76 gal. / 6.66 L)
3. Arkansas (1.84 gal. / 6.97 L)
4. Kentucky (1.85 gal. / 7.00 L)
5. Tennessee (1.89 gal. / 7.15 L)

Pennsylvania ranked 37th (including Washington D.C.) at 2.16 gal. / 8.18 L.

For the international rankings, I got 2005 data from the World Health Organization. The top 10 biggest drinkers are:

1. Estonia (16.2 L)
2. Czech Republic (14.8 L)
3. Ireland (13.4 L)
4. France (13.2 L)
5. Andorra (12.8 L)
6. Austria (12.7 L)
7. Saint Lucia (12.7 L)
8. Croatia (12.5 L)
9. Hungary (12.5 L)
10. Lithuania (12.5 L)

Germany ranked 15, tied with Luxembourg at 11.7 L. Switzerland ranked 32, tied with Serbia at 10.1 L. the United States ranked 46, tied with Ukraine at 8.5 L.

The 10 driest countries are:

1. Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Bangladesh at 0.0L
2. Pakistan, Niger, Myanmar, Mauritania, Kuwait, Iran, Indonesia, and Afghanistan at 0.1 L.

It makes sense, most of those are Islamic nations, and Muslims aren't supposed to drink. I can personally vouch that Niger has some good beer (Biere Niger and Flag), but it's so damn hot there that unless they are one of the few rich people who can afford refrigeration, they have to drink it, well, piss-warm would be an understatement, which would be a deterrent.

As you can see, Americans probably would not win a real-life Beer Fest, although New Hampshirites or New Hampshirians, or whatever they're called might have a shot, and for that matter, the Germans probably wouldn't either. Watch out for the Estonians though, they are by far the world's heaviest drinkers.