The unusual location where people drink the most wine, according to new study

Have you even heard of it?

Olivia Petter
Friday 15 December 2017 15:27 GMT
Comments
(Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

As the season of festive fun gets well underway, you might well think that the location where people drink the most wine is not unusual at all and is in fact your living room.

However, according to a new study it is actually a far more exotic location, one that you might not have even heard of: Norfolk Island, Australia.

After collating data from the Wine Institute, the World Bank and Numbeo, moving company Move Hub have ranked every country in terms of wine spend per capita.

Norfolk Island, which is just 8km long and 5km wide, is located in the heart of the South Pacific Ocean in between Australia and New Zealand; the current population is thought to be around 1,500.

Small it may be, but It turns out that residents on this teeny tiny island have a true penchant for Pinot, with every Islander spending an average of £486 each year on wine, according to MoveHub’s findings.

As for Europe, Switzerland take the top spot for the biggest wine expenditure, with £462 per capita.

Interestingly, countries near the equator spent the least on average, which Move Hub suspect may have something to do with the hot weather.

Move Hub also calculated how many bottles per capita each country consumed and for those party animals living the dream on Norfolk Island, it was 77.8.

This was followed by Vatican City (76), Andorra (66), Croatia (63.3), Portugal (61.8) and Slovenia (57.5).

As for the UK, it turns out we may not be the boozy Brits our reputation would make us out to be, given that we ranked just 31st on Move Hub’s list, with 26 bottles consumed per capita.

You may think you like your wine, but by global standards, your weekly Pinot penchant is just a drop in the vast, wine-infused ocean.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in