Average Lithuanian consumed 11.1 litres of pure alcohol last year, according to preliminary figures from the country’s statistics office, slightly down from the year before.

The figures released by Statistics Lithuania on Friday include only legally-sold alcohol per population aged 15 and above. In 2018, the average alcohol consumption was 11.2 litres.

Lithuania’s retailers and caterers sold 29 million litres of spirits (vodka, whiskey, brandy, etc.) last year, down by 0.1 percent from the year before.

Wine and fermented beverage sales declined by 0.2 percent to 34 million litres and beer sales inched down by 1.2 percent to 216 million litres.

Retail prices of alcoholic drinks grew by 2 percent on average in 2019, due mostly to an excise tax increase that took effect in March 2019.

The steepest price increases were for Lithuanian-made bitters (6.4 percent), vodka (6.2 percent) brandy (4.2 percent), beer (2.9 percent), and sparkly grape wine (1.7 percent). Meanwhile, whisky prices went down by 2.8 percent.

A total of 9.27 million litres of spirited alcoholic beverages were produced in Lithuania last year, turned into absolute (100 percent) alcohol. Their production volumes went down by 3.7 percent from 2018.

LRT.LT