Study Finds Thailand’s Full of Boozers

 | Tue 7 Jan 2014 11:43 ICT

CityNews – The latest findings of a report by the Centre for Alcohol Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok shows that Thailand sits at the head of the booze table, with about 17 million people being regular alcohol drinkers.

The study found that 31.5% of Thais aged 15 and over consume alcohol frequently, with about 77% of regular drinkers being adults. That means 23% are underage.

To help you visualise exactly how much alcohol this is, the report states that the average Thai guzzles down the equivalent of 7.1 litres of pure alcohol spirit a year. That’s around 25 bottles of vodka, whisky, gin, brandy, or any other choice of pure spirit, per person.

Isaan is the leading region of alcohol consumers with about 6.7 million people boozing it up on the regular. That’s 40% of Thailand’s regular drinkers, while the North of Thailand comes in second with 23% of the entire country’s drinkers.

Here’s a list of ASEAN countries ranked by the amount of raw-spirit alcohol drunk per person per year:

1. Thailand: 7.1 litres

2. Laos: 6.73 litres

3. Philippines: 6.38 litres

4. Cambodia: 6.38 litres

5. Vietnam: 6.38 litres

6. Brunei: 4.77 litres

7. Singapore: 3.77 litres

8. Malaysia: 2.01 litres

9. Indonesia: 0.59 litres

10. Myanmar: 0.57 litres