Germany is the spiritual home of beer. The Reinheitsgebot (beer purity law) dates back to 1516, Oktoberfest draws six million visitors a year, and you can legally buy a pint at 16. The United States, meanwhile, has more than six times as many breweries and a craft beer scene that barely existed 30 years ago. Despite these very different cultures, the two countries share a top-10 spot in global per capita alcohol consumption.
Here are some quick stats to frame the comparison:
1. Germans drink 12% more pure alcohol per capita than Americans: 10.6 litres versus 9.5 litres a year
(Source: OECD, Health at a Glance 2025)
The OECD’s most recent data (2023) puts German per capita consumption at 10.6 litres of pure alcohol per year among adults 15 and older, compared with 9.5 litres for Americans. Both countries sit above the OECD average of 8.5 litres, but Germany is a full litre ahead of the US. To put 10.6 litres in practical terms, that works out to roughly 530 standard drinks a year, or about 10 a week per adult.
Germany’s number has actually been falling. WHO data from 2019 put German consumption at 12.2 litres, meaning the country shaved off more than a litre in four years. The US figure has been relatively stable.
2. German beer consumption per capita is roughly 25% higher: 88 litres versus about 70 litres a year
(Source: Brewers of Europe, European Beer Trends 2025 and NIAAA Surveillance Report #121)
Germans drank 88 litres of beer per person in both 2023 and 2024, according to the Brewers of Europe. That figure has been sliding for decades. It was over 140 litres in the early 1990s, and still above 100 as recently as 2016. In the US, the NIAAA’s most recent data puts beer consumption at roughly 70 litres per capita, with the country ranking 26th globally.
Beer’s share of the alcohol market is also shrinking in both countries. In the US, spirits overtook beer in per capita ethanol consumption in 2022 for the first time since 1969. In Germany, beer still dominates, but wine and spirits are gaining ground.
3. About a third of German drinkers engage in heavy episodic drinking, compared to a quarter of American drinkers
(Source: OurWorldInData.org / WHO Global Health Observatory)
Heavy episodic drinking is the proportion of adult drinkers who consume at least 60 grams of pure alcohol on at least one occasion in the previous month, roughly six standard drinks in one sitting. WHO data shows Germany at 33.4% and the United States at 24.5%.
What makes Germany unusual is the relatively small gender gap. The male-to-female ratio for heavy drinking sessions in Germany is 1.74, compared to an EU average of 2.33. German women drink heavily at higher rates than women in most other European countries.
4. Almost 80% of Americans have tried alcohol; about 85% of German adults are current drinkers
(Source: NIAAA / 2024 NSDUH and Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, ESA 2024)
In the US, 79.2% of people aged 12 and older reported having consumed alcohol at least once in their lifetime, according to the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. But only 50.6% of adults drank in the past month.
Germany’s numbers paint a different picture. The 2024 Epidemiological Survey of Substance Abuse (ESA) found a 30-day drinking prevalence of 68.6% among 18- to 64-year-olds — roughly 35.3 million people. That’s a lot more regular drinkers as a share of the adult population than the US rate of 50.6%.
5. Alcohol-attributable deaths in the US outnumber Germany’s by more than 2 to 1, even adjusted for population
(Source: NIAAA and DHS Yearbook on Addiction 2025 / Movendi International)
In 2022, 105,415 Americans died from alcohol-attributable causes, down slightly from a pandemic-era peak of 108,791 in 2021. In Germany, the DHS Yearbook on Addiction 2025 puts alcohol-related deaths at about 47,500 per year.
Adjusted for population (the US has about four times Germany’s population), the American rate is still roughly double. Several factors likely contribute: the US has no universal healthcare system, treatment access is uneven, and alcohol-attributable deaths surged 25.5% from 2019 to 2020 during the early pandemic. Germany saw a much smaller pandemic bump of about 5.3%.
6. The US has more than six times as many breweries: 9,680 versus Germany’s 1,459
(Source: Brewers Association and Statistisches Bundesamt via Brauwelt International)
The US had 9,680 craft breweries operating in 2024, including 3,389 brewpubs, 3,695 taproom breweries, 1,934 microbreweries, and 266 regional craft breweries. That number actually dipped for the first time since 2005, with 501 closures outpacing 434 openings.
Germany counted 1,459 breweries in 2024, down 6% over the past five years from a post-reunification peak of 1,552 in 2019. The Reinheitsgebot (which limits beer to water, barley, hops, and yeast) has arguably kept Germany’s craft scene smaller — it’s hard to brew an IPA with fruit or a pastry stout under purity law constraints.
7. Craft beer generates $28.9 billion in US retail sales, accounting for nearly 25% of the dollar market
(Source: Brewers Association)
US craft brewers produced 23.1 million barrels in 2024, a 4% decline from 2023. But craft beer’s retail dollar value actually rose 3% to $28.9 billion, reflecting price increases and steady on-premises performance. Craft beer held 13.3% of the US beer market by volume and 24.7% by retail dollars.
Germany doesn’t really have a “craft beer” segment the way the US defines it. Almost all German breweries are small by international standards (856 of them produce fewer than 1,000 hectolitres a year), and the Reinheitsgebot means the typical small German brewery looks more like a traditional regional brewer than what Americans think of as “craft.”
8. 9.7% of Americans aged 12 and older had alcohol use disorder in 2024, versus about 9% of German adults 18 to 64
(Source: NIAAA / 2024 NSDUH and Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, ESA 2024)
The numbers are strikingly similar. In the US, the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 9.7% of people aged 12 and older met criteria for alcohol use disorder. In Germany, the 2024 Epidemiological Survey of Substance Abuse estimated that about 9% of adults aged 18 to 64 had an alcohol use disorder. Germany’s figure breaks down to roughly 2.2 million people meeting criteria for dependence and 1.7 million for abuse.
So despite Germany’s higher per capita consumption, both countries end up with essentially the same proportion of their population struggling with problem drinking.
9. Alcohol-impaired driving killed 12,429 Americans in 2023 — the rate of alcohol-related road deaths in the US is more than triple Germany’s
(Source: NHTSA and Statistisches Bundesamt via Busplaner)
In the US, 12,429 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2023, about 30% of all traffic fatalities. One person every 42 minutes. In Germany, 198 people died in alcohol-related traffic accidents in 2024, out of 2,770 total road deaths — roughly 7% of the total.
Even adjusting for population, the US rate is far worse. Part of the gap is structural: Germany has a lower BAC limit (0.05% vs 0.08% in most US states), more extensive public transit, and shorter driving distances on average. Germany has also driven its alcohol-related road deaths down 89% since 1991, when 2,229 people died in such crashes.
10. The US economic cost of excessive alcohol use was $249 billion (in 2010 dollars), while Germany’s was estimated at €57 billion
(Source: CDC and German Federal Ministry of Health)
The most recent comprehensive US estimate, from the CDC, put the economic cost of excessive alcohol use at $249 billion in 2010, or $2.05 per drink. Binge drinking accounted for 77% of that total. No updated national estimate has been published since, though costs have almost certainly risen with inflation and rising healthcare spending.
Germany’s Federal Ministry of Health estimates the total economic burden at around €57 billion annually when factoring in healthcare costs, lost productivity, early retirement, and premature death. On a per capita basis, that works out to roughly $750 per person in the US versus about $680 per person in Germany — broadly similar.
11. Non-alcoholic beer accounts for 14% of Germany’s beer market, roughly 14 times the US share
(Source: Inside.beer / GlobalData)
Germany is the world’s largest non-alcoholic beer market by volume. Non-alcoholic beer accounted for more than 14% of German beer sales in 2024, with production increasing 28% and exports growing 35%. About 11 million Germans aged 14 and older drank non-alcoholic beer in 2023, up from 9.8 million the previous year.
The US is catching up, but from a much lower base. Non-alcoholic beer sits at just over 1% of the US beer market, though volume surged 23% in 2023. Part of Germany’s lead is cultural: 57% of Germans aged 18 to 24 say they’re cutting back on alcohol, and the big German breweries (Krombacher, Bitburger, Erdinger) have invested heavily in alcohol-free lines for decades.
12. Germans can legally buy beer and wine at 16; Americans must wait until 21
(Source: Jugendschutzgesetz / Wikipedia)
Germany uses a tiered system. At 14, minors can drink beer or wine in public if a parent or guardian is present and gives permission. At 16, they can buy and consume beer and wine on their own. Spirits require age 18. The US has the highest minimum drinking age among developed nations at 21, with generally strict enforcement.
This five-year gap in legal access partly explains the different drinking cultures. Germans grow up around beer in a way that Americans don’t, which may normalize moderate consumption but also means exposure starts earlier. Germany’s drug commissioner and the Deutsche Hauptstelle für Suchtfragen have recently called for raising the beer and wine age to 18, citing health data on adolescent brain development.
13. Average US household spending on alcohol reached $637 in 2023; German households spent roughly €560 per year
(Source: BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey 2023 and Destatis)
The average American household spent $637 on alcoholic beverages in 2023, up 9.3% from $583 in 2022. That breaks down to $294 on drinks consumed at home and $343 on drinks consumed away from home. Alcohol accounted for about 0.8% of total household spending.
Germany’s total national spending on alcoholic beverages was around €28.4 billion in 2023. Divided across Germany’s roughly 41 million households, that works out to about €690 per household — though a chunk of that figure includes bars, restaurants, and Oktoberfest spending. Alcohol’s share of total German household budgets falls within the broader “food, beverages, and tobacco” category, which accounts for about 11% of household spending.
14. Germany’s Reinheitsgebot has governed beer ingredients for over 500 years; the US has no equivalent national standard
(Source: Library of Congress)
Enacted in Bavaria in 1516, the Reinheitsgebot originally limited beer to three ingredients: water, barley, and hops. (Yeast wasn’t mentioned because its role in fermentation wasn’t yet understood.) The law was adopted across all of Germany in 1906 and, though technically replaced by the Provisional German Beer Law in 1993, is still voluntarily followed by most German breweries.
The US has no comparable regulation. American brewers can use any fermentable grain, add fruit, spices, lactose, coffee, or just about anything else. This regulatory difference is central to why the US craft beer explosion happened in the US and not in Germany. The Reinheitsgebot protects tradition but constrains experimentation — a trade-off that German brewers debate constantly.
15. German beer exports fell 6% over the past decade to 1.45 billion litres in 2024, while US craft beer exports remain a niche
(Source: Statistisches Bundesamt via The Drinks Business and Brewers Association)
German breweries exported 1.45 billion litres of beer in 2024, a 6% decline from a decade earlier. The drop reflects weakening global demand for German beer, competition from local craft scenes in export markets, and the broader trend of falling beer consumption worldwide.
US craft beer exports are small by comparison and have never been a major revenue driver. The American craft industry is oriented almost entirely toward domestic consumption, with taprooms and brewpubs accounting for a growing share of sales. The US exported about 586,000 barrels of craft beer in 2023 — roughly 2.5% of total craft production.
Wrapping Up
Germany drinks more per person, both in total alcohol and in beer specifically, and it does so with a beer culture that goes back half a millennium. But the consequences of alcohol fall harder on the US. American alcohol-related death rates are roughly double Germany’s on a per capita basis, drunk driving kills at more than triple the rate, and the pandemic widened those gaps further.
The two countries share a few things: similar alcohol use disorder rates (around 9-10% of adults), declining beer consumption as spirits and wine gain share, and a growing non-alcoholic beer market — though Germany is miles ahead on that last point. Where they differ most is in policy. Germany’s lower drinking age, lower BAC limit, universal healthcare, and deep institutional beer culture create a very different relationship with alcohol than America’s 21-and-over, car-dependent, treatment-access-uneven landscape.
For a look at how the US compares to other countries, see our US vs UK and Australia vs USA comparisons — and for a state-level deep dive, check out how California and Texas stack up.