Global Beverage Alcohol Will Decline Until 2031. Here Is What the Data Demands from Every Producer Planning Beyond It.

Last week IWSR published its annual global data release – confirmed 2025 consumption figures across all 160 markets it monitors, alongside ten-year forecasts through to 2035. The release is the most comprehensive primary source data set in beverage alcohol and the one that underpins strategic planning at every major producer. For anyone reading the 2026 financial results cycle and trying to understand the structural forces behind what the numbers show, the IWSR data provides the clearest picture available of where the industry actually is – and where it is heading.

The headline from the release has been widely covered: for the first time since IWSR records began in 1990, the total volume of spirits consumed worldwide exceeded the total volume of wine consumed. Both categories declined in 2025, but spirits fell less severely than wine. That milestone matters less than the data beneath it. The confirmed 2025 numbers and the ten-year forecasts together describe a structural shift in the industry that the 2026 results cycle has been reflecting – and that most producers’ strategic plans have not yet fully incorporated.

What the confirmed 2025 data shows