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Drinking alcohol in Cyprus. How does the island compare to Poland and Europe?
Drinking alcohol in Cyprus is less common than the European Union average, if you look at the people who use it daily. In 2025, it was 1.9 percent of residents aged 16 or overThe EU average was 4.8 percent, according to data published by Eurostat.
We also checked Poland and other countries in the same dataset. The comparison yielded a surprise: for Poland, Eurostat reports even lower rates of daily drinking, 0.5 percentHowever, all Polish values in this table are marked as data of reduced reliability and should therefore be interpreted with caution. The data also indicate frequencies, not about the amount of alcohol consumed.
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Cyprus below EU average
Alcohol was consumed daily by 1.9 percent of the island's population. A further 16.1 percent reported drinking weekly but not daily, and 22.1 percent reported drinking monthly but not weekly.
Across the EU, the corresponding figures were 4.8, 19.2, and 21.8 percent. The largest difference is seen in daily drinking. The percentage of monthly drinkers on the island is very close to the EU average.
Eurostat also reports that 42.9 percent of Cypriots have never drunk alcohol or have not drunk it in the 12 months prior to the survey. For the EU as a whole, the figure was 33.5 percent.
And what does it look like in Poland and other countries?
The following values apply people aged 16 and over in 2025The categories do not overlap: "weekly" means drinking weekly but not daily, and "monthly" means drinking monthly but less than weekly.
| Country | Every day | Every week | Every month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cyprus | 1,9% | 16,1% | 22,1% |
| Poland* | 0,5% | 2,9% | 17,0% |
| Germany | 3,3% | 14,1% | 25,3% |
| France | 5,9% | 29,6% | 21,6% |
| Spain | 5,6% | 24,1% | 19,8% |
| Italy | 7,9% | 24,4% | 14,7% |
| EU average | 4,8% | 19,2% | 21,8% |
* Eurostat has marked data for Poland as having reduced reliability. Source: Eurostat, ilc_hch23 dataset, year 2025.
Among the countries shown, Italy stands out, with 7.9 percent of people reporting daily drinking. In France, the figure was 5.9 percent, and in Germany, 3.3 percent. The differences between countries are different when looking at weekly or monthly drinking.
The Polish result requires the greatest caution. Eurostat marked as data of reduced reliability not only the value for daily drinking, but all five frequency categories for Poland. Therefore, one should not conclude from this table that Poles drink the least in Europe.
Frequency is not the amount of alcohol
The study answers the question, how often A person reaches for alcohol. It doesn't show how much they drink on a single occasion. Someone who drinks a small amount daily falls into a different category than someone who drinks heavily but only on the weekend.
Therefore, the percentage of daily drinkers is not a ranking of total alcohol consumption or a measure of health damage. Such a comparison would also require data on the amount of alcohol consumed and the way it was consumed.
Across the EU, frequency also varies by gender and age. 56.5 percent of men and 35.9 percent of women reported drinking at least once a month. Daily drinking was reported by 0.8 percent of those aged 16–24 and 8.9 percent of those aged 65 and over. These are EU averages, not separate results for Cyprus.
The latest data confirms one thing: daily alcohol consumption is significantly less common on the island than the EU average. Poland ranks even lower in the same table, but due to Eurostat's caveat, its result should be treated as careful comparison, not a certain ranking.
Sources: Eurostat, Key figures on European living conditions 2026, Cyprus Information Agency
