ACROSS most of the world the consumption of alcohol is falling. In some places the trend is most marked among the young: in Britain, ten years ago 70% of 16- to 24-year-olds claimed to have had a drink in the previous week, whereas by 2010 just 48% had. Many Western teenagers are playing on games consoles or chatting on Facebook rather than illicitly swigging cider in the park. But alongside this trend (which is not universal, with many Eastern European countries, such as Russia and Moldova, glugging away) another has appeared. Last year 2.2 billion litres of non-alcoholic beer were drunk, 80% more than five years earlier. Why are sales of non-alcoholic beer booming? Non-alcoholic beer, which is also sometimes branded as "light" or "low-alcoholic" beer, is normally fermented beer that is then boiled to reduce the alcohol within it. It became popular around the time of prohibition in America, which set a limit of 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV). Most mainstream lager brands have a lighter alternative. Now non-alcoholic beer is the fastest-growing category in a market that is pretty static or declining slightly, according to Sean Durkan of Bavaria beer, an independent brewery that sells 0.00% ABV beer and lager shandy along with lighter alcoholic beers. For one thing, people are more aware than before of the damaging effects of alcohol. Governments have stepped up health campaigns and chivvied the drinks industry into promoting low-alcohol alternatives to their usual products. In Japan an ageing population, mindful of its health but fond of a tipple, has started to take up non-alcoholic beer. And better technology means that it is tastier than before, Mr Durkan claims.

One chunk of the market is taking off for other reasons. The Middle East now accounts for almost a third of the worldwide sales by volume of non-alcoholic beer. In 2012 Iranians drank nearly four times as much of it as they did in 2007. It is popular in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, where alcohol is either wholly or partially banned. Partly this is for religious reasons. After Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist movement, won a landslide election victory in Gaza in 2005, a local brewer launched an alcohol-free "halal" version of its beer. But it also taps into growing consumer aspirations. As a statement of a globalised lifestyle beer, even if non-alcoholic, may be more potent than Coca-Cola. Non-alcoholic lager is slowly being drunk more in bars and restaurants, rather than just being consumed at home. Prominent Saudi and Egyptian clerics have issued fatwas declaring it permissible to drink zero-alcohol beer.

Brewers of non-alcoholic beer are hopeful. Increased religiosity in the Middle East could boost demand; in the West it looks as if governments are not about to stop lecturing on the dangers of hooch any time soon. And consumers may gain from the increased demand. With more brands entering the market, the lighter stuff may start to taste even more like the real thing.