It is a major change in society. The French drink less and less alcohol. If the trend is known, an INSEE study measures its extent over a long period.
Between 1960 and 2018, the average consumption by French of alcoholic beverages was divided by 2.5. A Frenchman drank 200 liters of alcohol a year at the time, he only drinks 80 today. And if this decline mainly occurred between the early 1960s and the mid-1990s, following the implementation of public policies to combat daily alcohol consumption, it still continues today.
And if the French drink less alcohol it is mainly wine from which they have turned away in recent decades. From 128 liters per year on average per person in 1960, wine consumption fell to 36 liters in 2018. Concretely, the French drink an average of one glass of wine per day today while drinking 3.5 1960.
When we served wine in the school canteen
You should know that until the 1950s, wine was served as a drink in school canteens.
“At that time, it was a common practice to see children drinking wine, explains Stéphane Le Bras, specialist in contemporary history at Clermont Auvergne University on Public Senate. Parents have a habit of giving their children a vial of chopped wine with water when they go to school. “
It was not until 1956 that the State legislated and banned the consumption of alcohol in canteens but only for children under 14 years!
It is in fact the so-called everyday wine (table wines) which fell the most. While the French consumed 115 liters per year on average, they now only drink 17 liters. And the decline is continuous since consumption was still 47 liters in 1990 and 28 liters in 2000.
If the French drink less, but they tend to drink better. The consumption of quality wines increased during the period (from 12.5 liters in 1960 to 18.9 liters in 2018). Even if it too has been declining in recent periods. In 2000, the French consumed 25 liters per year, 30% more than today.
The only alcoholic drink that has really risen over a long period of time is champagne. Its consumption has quadrupled since 1970 and it remains at this level of 4.5 liters per year per inhabitant. Beer is also doing well (+4 liters per year in 2018 compared to 2010) but only in recent years with new offers that appeal to young people.
The French drink more than the average
And this lack of interest in alcohol is not linked to its price. “Between 1960 and 2018, the prices of alcoholic beverages were slightly less dynamic than the prices of all household consumption expenditure (+ 4.0% per year on average against + 4.1%)”, notes INSEE. Even if with the increase in taxes in recent years, alcohol has grown a little faster than other products (+ 1.8% increase on average for alcohol since 1990 against + 1.3% for products of consumption).
Despite this drop, the French remain significant consumers of alcohol on a European scale. In 2016, with a consumption of 12.6 liters of pure alcohol per person over the age of 15, France is the eighth largest consumer of pure alcohol per person in Europe (11.5 liters on average in the EU). This is explained in particular by an average abstinence rate in France.
“In France, 13% of the population over 15 consume alcohol 6 to 7 days a week, one of the highest proportions in Europe. On the other hand, the abstinence rate (15%) is in the European average, between the maximum abstinence rate of 30% in Italy and the minimum rate of 7% in Denmark “, observes INSEE.
This growing lack of interest in alcohol, on the other hand, benefits non-alcoholic drinks, whose share in the French drink budget increased from 22.4% in 1960 to more than 40% in 2018. Among non-alcoholic drinks, the share of consumption of table water, flavored drinks and sodas, as well as fruit and vegetable juices, has risen sharply since 1960: in total, it reached 69.8% of spending on non-alcoholic drinks in 2018.
The weight of fruit and vegetable juices increased mainly from the 1990s. Conversely, the share of hot drinks (coffee, tea and cocoa) has fallen sharply since 1960: by 71.2%, they represented more than 30.2% in 2018. However, the trend reversed in the 2010s, mainly due to the increase in coffee.
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