On Oct. 15, 2025, host Anastasia Benedzisiuk discussed how much money Poles spend on alcohol in the program “Plan B” on the News.by channel.
"Poland has been labeled one of the EU’s most rapidly depopulating nations. Eurostat publishes data on alcohol dependence levels across the EU, showing that only Slovenia fares worse. Poles spend 20 percent of their total food budget on vodka and beer."
Two weeks later, host Andrei Sych brought up the same topic on his show “Trends.” He claimed that “Poland is hooked on booze.”
A poll conducted by the news outlet Onet found that nearly 87 percent of Poles see alcoholism as a growing social problem. In 2024, people in Poland bought an average of 16.5 million cans of beer every day. Many are looking for answers at the bottom of a bottle — and not because life is good,” the News.by host remarked.
Poles do spend a significant share of their food budget on alcohol, but it’s not 20% — it’s 15%. Belarusians spend 6% on alcohol and tobacco combined. That doesn’t mean, however, that Poles drink more. The difference could come from higher alcohol prices, for example.
When comparing per capita alcohol consumption in the two countries, Belarusians in 2023 drank 10.9 liters of registered alcohol in pure alcohol equivalent. The figure rises by half a liter when unregistered alcohol is included. In Poland, per capita consumption stands at 10 liters of pure alcohol. The statistics, however, do not specify whether they include only registered alcohol or all consumption. In any case, it turns out that Poles spend more but drink less.
The survey mentioned by Andrei Sych was indeed conducted by the Onet portal. However, the survey results state that 87% of Poles consider alcoholism a serious problem — the wording does not include the word “growing.” Official data show that alcohol consumption in Poland has been declining in recent years: in 2021, the average Pole drank one liter more than in 2023.
