Volume sales of alcoholic beverages declined by 2.4% in Norway in 2023, to 392 million litres, compared to the preceding year.
The decline was seen across the spirits, wine and beer segments, according to the latest data from Statistics Norway.
The sharpest decline was seen in the spirits category, which fell by 5.6% to 12.5 million litres during the year.
The decline for wine and beer was 1.9% and 3%, respectively, data showed. Sales of soft drinks per litre increased 2.8% during the year.
"If you compare the figures back in time, you have to go all the way back to 2019 to find lower figures for total sales per litre," added Lena Weitzenbürger Haarr of Statistics Norway.
The registered decline in product litres and alcohol litres for 2023 has also affected the distribution per inhabitant aged 15 and over compared with 2022, Statistics Norway noted.
The proportion of total product litres and total alcohol litres per inhabitant aged 15 and over has decreased by 3.8% and 4.1% respectively. Here, 'product litres' refer to the litres of alcoholic beverages sold, while 'alcohol litres' represent litres of pure alcohol.
Moreover, the figures do not include home production, private cross-border trade, or tourist imports.
Fourth-Quarter Performance
Sales of pure alcohol in the fourth quarter of 2023 declined 2% to 7.7 million litres, from 7.9 million in the same quarter in the preceding year.
However, this decline marks a change in trend compared with the fourth quarter of 2021, when it declined by 7% year-on-year.
"[We have also seen] a decline in alcohol sales for both product litres and alcohol litres in the fourth quarter [of 2023], but it is not as sharp as it was from 2021 to 2022," added Haarr.
The decline in alcohol units for spirits and wine was the largest share of the decline, at 4.6% and 3.8%, respectively.
Alcoholic litre for beer remained unchanged at 2.9 million in both the fourth quarter of 2022 and full-year 2023.
