Economists use a range of goods to gauge consumer prices in different countries around the world.

Beer is one consumable that can be used for such purposes, although not often omitted.

I believe this is because unlike a bottle of Coca-Cola, the local varieties of beer can result in significant price differences. Which left me wondering; where can you visit to find the cheapest beer?

Methodology

I used GoEuro’s Beer Price Index (2015 and 2016) for beer costs around the world. This index includes both supermarket and bar costs for a 33cl beer. GoEuro’s data also calculates a mean average beer price using the calculation (supermarket cost + bar cost) / 2.

Results

Cost of beer around the world 2016

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A 33cl beer will cost you anywhere between $1.14 and $6.59, on average. Lausanne, Switzerland is the most expensive where a beer at a bar will cost you $12.20. That’s over 6 times more expensive than the cheapest city for a beer at a bar, Kiev ($1.82).

Cheapest beers 2016

Interactive map.

Overall rank (overall ave) City Country Average Price for 33cl Beer (Supermarket) in USD Average Price for 33cl Beer (Bar) in USD Overall Average Price in USD Bar – supermarket diff Bar – supermarket diff pc 1 Bratislava Slovakia 0.35 1.93 1.14 1.58 451.43% 2 Kiev Ukraine 0.47 1.82 1.15 1.35 287.23% 3 Cape Town South Africa 0.46 2.12 1.29 1.66 360.87% 4 Krakow Poland 0.57 2.02 1.30 1.45 254.39% 5 Mexico City Mexico 0.46 2.48 1.47 2.02 439.13% 6 Belgrade Serbia 0.30 2.73 1.52 2.43 810.00% 7 Cairo Egypt 0.69 2.61 1.65 1.92 278.26% 8 Warsaw Poland 0.60 2.79 1.70 2.19 365.00% 8 Ljubljana Slovenia 0.75 2.64 1.70 1.89 252.00% 10 Budapest Hungary 0.28 3.13 1.71 2.85 1017.86%

Full list.

Most of the cities in the top 10 (7) are all found in Eastern Europe. In Bratislava, Slovakia a 33cl beer can be bought for $0.35. At a bar in Bratislava the same beer might cost you $1.58 — a 451% increase! In Budapest the difference between supermarket ($0.28) and bar ($3.13) is 1018% (Paris is the worst — a 1270% increase).

Year-on-year beer price changes

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Price change rank City Country Overall Average Price % Change 15/16 1 Rio de Janeiro Brazil -43.27% 2 Geneva Switzerland -42.80% 3 Munich Germany -42.05% 4 Cape Town South Africa -39.72% 5 Bucharest Romania -37.81% 6 Ljubljana Slovenia -37.34% 7 Tel Aviv Israel -37.10% 8 Dublin Ireland -34.32% 9 San Francisco United States -34.01% 10 Barcelona Spain -33.90%

Full list.

GoEuro’s price index records beer prices falling in 63 of 64 cities between 2015 and 2016! Only Malaga in Spain saw beer prices increase, by 23% — sorry packaged holiday makers.

The fall in beer prices was actually fairly significant with an average price decrease of 24%. The top 10 cities ranked by falling beer price all saw price decreases of over 30%. In Rio De Janeiro, Geneva, and Munich average beer prices fell by over 40%! Oktoberfest is looking cheap in 2017!

Beer consumption 2016

Interactive map.

Did you know? Out of the 70 countries considered in GoEuro’s Beer Price Index, the top beer consumers in 2016 were: 1) Czech Republic (144 litres person / year), 2) Poland (127), 3) Serbia (119).

Biggest spenders on beer 2016

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Av spend rank City Country Av. Annual Consumption Per Capita (litres) Av. annual spend per capita (Supermarket only) Av. annual spend per capita (Bar only) Av. annual spend per capita (average) 1 Lausanne Switzerland 56 166.30 2,070.30 1,118.30 2 Helsinki Finland 105 381.82 1,753.18 1,067.50 3 Sydney Australia 99 540.00 1,398.00 969.00 4 New York United States 85 265.30 1,645.91 955.61 5 Miami United States 85 182.88 1,602.12 892.50 6 Toronto Canada 116 376.12 1,395.52 885.82 7 Prague Czech Republic 144 318.55 1,444.36 881.45 8 Venice Italy 106 212.00 1,532.18 872.09 9 Moscow Russia 106 395.09 1,323.39 859.24 10 Frankfurt Germany 107 220.48 1,420.18 820.33

Full list.

Whilst Czech Republic, Poland, and Serbia have the highest beer consumption per capita, the relatively cheap price of beer means that they don’t spend as much ($881 per year, $652 and $546 respectively).

Unsurprisingly Lausanne, Switzerland – where a beer at a bar can cost you more than $12 – comes out top for most spent per person on beer each year at $1,118 (even though consumption is relatively low at only 56 litres p/person p/year).

Improvements

GoEuros dataset has aggregated beer prices. Having access to the raw dataset with prices by brand would be particularly useful in comparing like-for-like differences in prices around the world.

tl;dr

33cl of beer is cheapest in Bratislava, Slovakia at an average cost of $1.14 ($0.35 in a supermarket or $1.93 in a bar).

Footnotes

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