Mapped: The Legal Age to Buy Beer Around the World

How Old Do You Have to Be to Buy Beer?

Around the world, the legal age for buying a beer ranges from 13 to 25, with significant differences between countries.

This graphic uses the latest available country-level data from the WHO Global Information System on Alcohol and Health (GISAH). It specifically measures minimum ages for off-premise beer sales, such as purchases from stores, rather than drinking or being served alcohol in bars and restaurants.

18 Is the Global Norm

The table below shows the latest available WHO minimum age for purchasing beer off-premise by country.

Country (WHO name)	WHO region	Minimum age to buy beer (off-premise)
Burkina Faso	Africa	13
Cote d’Ivoire	Africa	14
Austria	Europe	16
Belgium	Europe	16
Denmark	Europe	16
Dominica	Americas	16
Germany	Europe	16
Grenada	Americas	16
Guyana	Americas	16
Luxembourg	Europe	16
Micronesia (Federated States of)	Western Pacific	16
Saint Lucia	Americas	16
San Marino	Europe	16
Sao Tome and Principe	Africa	16
Switzerland	Europe	16
Malta	Europe	17
Albania	Europe	18
Algeria	Africa	18
Andorra	Europe	18
Angola	Africa	18
Antigua and Barbuda	Americas	18
Argentina	Americas	18
Armenia	Europe	18
Australia	Western Pacific	18
Azerbaijan	Europe	18
Bahamas	Americas	18
Bahrain	Eastern Mediterranean	18
Barbados	Americas	18
Belarus	Europe	18
Belize	Americas	18
Bhutan	South-East Asia	18
Bolivia (Plurinational State of)	Americas	18
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Europe	18
Botswana	Africa	18
Brazil	Americas	18
Bulgaria	Europe	18
Burundi	Africa	18
Cabo Verde	Africa	18
Cameroon	Africa	18
Chad	Africa	18
Chile	Americas	18
China	Western Pacific	18
Colombia	Americas	18
Congo	Africa	18
Cook Islands	Western Pacific	18
Costa Rica	Americas	18
Croatia	Europe	18
Cuba	Americas	18
Cyprus	Europe	18
Czechia	Europe	18
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea	South-East Asia	18
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Africa	18
Dominican Republic	Americas	18
Ecuador	Americas	18
El Salvador	Americas	18
Equatorial Guinea	Africa	18
Estonia	Europe	18
Eswatini	Africa	18
Finland	Europe	18
France	Europe	18
Gabon	Africa	18
Gambia	Africa	18
Georgia	Europe	18
Ghana	Africa	18
Greece	Europe	18
Guatemala	Americas	18
Honduras	Americas	18
Hungary	Europe	18
India	South-East Asia	18
Ireland	Europe	18
Israel	Europe	18
Italy	Europe	18
Jamaica	Americas	18
Jordan	Eastern Mediterranean	18
Kenya	Africa	18
Kyrgyzstan	Europe	18
Lao People’s Democratic Republic	Western Pacific	18
Latvia	Europe	18
Lebanon	Eastern Mediterranean	18
Liberia	Africa	18
Madagascar	Africa	18
Mali	Africa	18
Mauritius	Africa	18
Mexico	Americas	18
Monaco	Europe	18
Montenegro	Europe	18
Mozambique	Africa	18
Myanmar	South-East Asia	18
Namibia	Africa	18
Nepal	South-East Asia	18
Netherlands (Kingdom of the)	Europe	18
New Zealand	Western Pacific	18
Nicaragua	Americas	18
Niger	Africa	18
Nigeria	Africa	18
North Macedonia	Europe	18
Norway	Europe	18
Panama	Americas	18
Papua New Guinea	Western Pacific	18
Peru	Americas	18
Philippines	Western Pacific	18
Poland	Europe	18
Portugal	Europe	18
Republic of Moldova	Europe	18
Romania	Europe	18
Russian Federation	Europe	18
Rwanda	Africa	18
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Americas	18
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Americas	18
Senegal	Africa	18
Serbia	Europe	18
Seychelles	Africa	18
Singapore	Western Pacific	18
Slovakia	Europe	18
Slovenia	Europe	18
South Africa	Africa	18
South Sudan	Africa	18
Spain	Europe	18
Suriname	Americas	18
Tajikistan	Europe	18
Togo	Africa	18
Tonga	Western Pacific	18
Trinidad and Tobago	Americas	18
Tunisia	Eastern Mediterranean	18
Türkiye	Europe	18
Uganda	Africa	18
Ukraine	Europe	18
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	Europe	18
United Republic of Tanzania	Africa	18
Uruguay	Americas	18
Vanuatu	Western Pacific	18
Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)	Americas	18
Viet Nam	Western Pacific	18
Zambia	Africa	18
Zimbabwe	Africa	18
Canada	Americas	18-19
Republic of Korea	Western Pacific	19
Iceland	Europe	20
Japan	Western Pacific	20
Lithuania	Europe	20
Paraguay	Americas	20
Sweden	Europe	20
Thailand	South-East Asia	20
Uzbekistan	Europe	20
Egypt	Eastern Mediterranean	21
Ethiopia	Africa	21
Indonesia	Western Pacific	21
Iraq	Eastern Mediterranean	21
Kazakhstan	Europe	21
Kiribati	Western Pacific	21
Lesotho	Africa	21
Malawi	Africa	21
Malaysia	Western Pacific	21
Marshall Islands	Western Pacific	21
Mongolia	Western Pacific	21
Naoero	Western Pacific	21
Oman	Eastern Mediterranean	21
Qatar	Eastern Mediterranean	21
Samoa	Western Pacific	21
Sri Lanka	South-East Asia	21
Turkmenistan	Europe	21
United States of America	Americas	21
United Arab Emirates	Eastern Mediterranean	21 – with restrictions
Eritrea	Africa	25
Bangladesh	South-East Asia	No legal minimum
Benin	Africa	No legal minimum
Cambodia	Western Pacific	No legal minimum
Central African Republic	Africa	No legal minimum
Djibouti	Eastern Mediterranean	No legal minimum
Guinea	Africa	No legal minimum
Guinea-Bissau	Africa	No legal minimum
Morocco	Eastern Mediterranean	No legal minimum
Pakistan	Eastern Mediterranean	No legal minimum
Sierra Leone	Africa	No legal minimum
Somalia	Eastern Mediterranean	No legal minimum
Syrian Arab Republic	Eastern Mediterranean	No legal minimum
Timor-Leste	South-East Asia	No legal minimum
Yemen	Eastern Mediterranean	No legal minimum
Afghanistan	Eastern Mediterranean	Total ban
Iran (Islamic Republic of)	Eastern Mediterranean	Total ban
Kuwait	Eastern Mediterranean	Total ban
Libya	Eastern Mediterranean	Total ban
Maldives	South-East Asia	Total ban
Mauritania	Africa	Total ban
Sudan	Eastern Mediterranean	Total ban
Saudi Arabia	Eastern Mediterranean	Banned – with restrictions
Brunei Darussalam	Western Pacific	No data
Comoros	Africa	No data
Fiji	Western Pacific	No data
Haiti	Americas	No data
Niue	Western Pacific	No data
Palau	Western Pacific	No data
Solomon Islands	Western Pacific	No data
Tuvalu	Western Pacific	No data

Age 18 dominates the map. By comparison, 19 countries set the threshold at 21, 13 use age 16, and seven use age 20. Eritrea stands out with the highest listed minimum at 25.

Minimum-age laws are one tool governments use to limit alcohol access among young people. DrinkIQ notes that adolescence is an important period of brain and physical development, while countries balance these concerns against differing cultural attitudes toward alcohol.

Europe is particularly notable for lower purchase ages. Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and several other countries set the threshold at 16. The region also has a deeply established beer culture and includes many of the world’s biggest beer-drinking countries.

From No Minimum to Complete Prohibition

The opposite ends of the spectrum require some nuance. The WHO data lists 14 countries as having no legal minimum for off-premise beer purchases. This designation does not necessarily mean alcohol is freely available, as other national or local restrictions may still apply.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, the Maldives, Mauritania, and Sudan are recorded as having total bans on beer sales. Saudi Arabia is classified separately as banned with restrictions. Alcohol rules can include exceptions based on location, residency, or other circumstances, illustrating why a simple purchase-age figure cannot capture every country’s regulatory system.

The U.S. is also unusual among major advanced economies, with a minimum purchase age of 21. The beer market itself remains highly globalized, however, with many of the largest beer brewers selling across countries with very different rules.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

For another look at the beer industry, see How Beer Logos Have Changed With the Times on the Voronoi app.

• Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-the-legal-age-to-buy-beer-around-the-world/