A total of 7,216 liters of pure alcohol were sold in the first quarter of 2021. That is an increase of 20.8% from the same period last year and a new record for the first quarter.
Sales of beer measured in alcohol liters increased by 17.7% in the first quarter of the year, and soft drink sales increased by 40.7% compared with the same period in 2020, according to Statistics Norway (SSB).
Alcohol liters in the statistics are measured as pure liters of alcohol. For example, a liter of beer with 5% alcohol is counted as 50 ml of alcohol.
The increase does not mean that Norwegians drink more than before. The alcohol statistics do not include alcohol that is bought abroad or tax-free, the SSB points out.
Drinking habits unchanged
“Most of the increase in sales of alcohol in the last year is probably due to the fact that we have had to buy all the alcohol at ordinary outlets in Norway,” Stian Elisenberg at the SSB pointed out.
He added that Norwegians’ drinking habits are unchanged, according to the SSB’s health statistics.
Measured in liters of goods sold, there has been an increase in wine and spirits of 23.9% and 15.8%, respectively.
The product group with the highest percentage growth is soft drinks, which has increased from 0.84 to 1.16 product liters per inhabitant compared with the corresponding period last year – growing by 38.1%.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayFinance
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