New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposal to ban the sale of large sugary drinks at food retailers, like restaurants, food carts, and movie theaters, is one of the boldest, most controversial steps ever in the nation’s fight against obesity. Consuming high amounts of fructose found in some sodas has been linked to obesity, and Americans drink billions of gallons of soft drinks each year—but is the United States the most soda-crazed country in the world?
To find out, The Daily Beast looked at the most recent data available from Euromonitor International, with food retail sales of soft drinks from 2003 to 2009 for more than four dozen countries. We equally weighted the average yearly gallons consumed per capita over that period, and the percentage change in national consumption over that period, to get a picture of not just where large quantities of soda are imbibed, but the rate at which that consumption is growing (or shrinking).
Surprisingly, America isn’t the most soda-crazed country. Read on to find out the world’s number one soft drink-crazy nation.