I thought Canadians drank much more milk than people in other countries but I was surprised when I saw these statistics reported in the February issue of Harrowsmith magazine.
This data is from 2005 and compares litres of milk consumed per person per year:
Finland – 176.8
Sweden – 144.9
Denmark – 131.5
Ireland – 125.8
Netherlands – 122.6
Australia – 103.3
France – 91.0
Canada – 83.8
United Kingdom – 78.9
United States – 81.0
Mexico – 37.1
Japan – 35.6
China – 8.5
Source: Statistics Canada
I was surprised to see this data so I looked it up -turns out it is not just “milk”.
Footnotes from http://www.dairyinfo.gc.ca/pdf/consumption_global_and_retail_milk.pdf
are telling: “Total per capita consumption includes liquid milk, milk drinks and fermented products including yogurt.”
Meanwhile, in Canada it does not include yogurt: “Canada total consumption includes milk, buttermilk and chocolate milk”
This might explain why France who is reputed to “eat” their milk, while we “drink” it come before Canada on this list.
Thanks, Therese. This makes sense and would help to explain what are interesting, if not somewhat perplexing, stats!