At least one glass of wine a day, but limited excesses as far as Italy is concerned. Eurostat reveals this by comparing the ways of consuming alcohol in the European member states.
Daily consumption
8.4% of adult European citizens drink alcoholic beverages every day, a more widespread custom in Mediterranean countries than in the rest of the continent:
- Portugal (20.7%)
- Spain (13%)
- Italy (12.1%)
Weekly consumption
In northern Europe, on the other hand, the tendency is to consume alcohol on a weekly basis:
- The Netherlands, almost half of the population (47.3%) consumes alcohol every week
- Luxembourg (43.1%)
- Belgium (40.8%)
Heavy episodic use
In the ranking of heavy episodic alcohol consumption, which is equivalent to the ingestion of more than 60 grams of pure ethanol on a single occasion, Italy is last together with Cyprus at 4%
- Denmark (38%)
- Romania (35%)
- Luxembourg (34%)
- Germany (30%)
This European survey is the prelude to a reinforced media campaign to drastically reduce alcohol consumption, which most wine industry players oppose (wine is also a significant GDP and employment contributor).