10 Countries with the Highest Bread Consumption per Capita in the World

If you love bread, then you will also love our article about the 10 countries with the highest bread consumption per capita in the world. 

Bread is the staple in billions of households worldwide. But, the question is which countries are absolutely crazy about bread? So, in essence, this is going to be a list of the top 10 bread consuming countries, and as you might guess all of these countries are going to be from Europe. When it comes to bread, Europe is in the lead by a significant margin as bread is a European staple. While we are on the subject of staple foods, don’t forget to check out 11 Countries that Consume the Most Potatoes and 8 Countries that Produce the Most Grain in the World. As the title of this article suggests, we went on a quest to find bread consumption per capita by country, and as expected the upper echelon was filled up by European countries like Greece and The Netherlands.

Bread is an essential food item, even where there is ample rice and other grains to lean towards, people just seem to enjoy bread, everywhere. Take China for example, of course, rice is the staple food in China, but people also eat a wide variety of bread there as well. World bread consumption statistics show that every country in the world consumes bread but in various degrees. Learning about the food habits of people around is very interesting, to say the least. When you are done learning about worldwide bread consumption, you should definitely check out 11 Countries that Consume the Most Pizza and 11 Countries That Consume the Most Pasta.

For our research, we had to go through copious amounts of data in order to find what we were looking for. Thankfully, there are reliable websites for gathering data on things like largest bread consumption per capita, like Statista, World Bank, and of course Google. After we accumulated enough data, we were able to move on to the ranking phase of the article.

For ranking, the methodology was pretty simple. We took note of quantity of bread consumed per person per year and then ranked the countries accordingly. The higher the consumption, the higher a country has been placed on our list. One thing to note here is that the data we found showed the consumption in kilograms which is the unit of measuring weight in the metric system. However, we converted it to pounds for better understanding. Also, the most up to date data we could find was for the year 2013, so our ranking is based on that data.

Without further ado, let’s get right into the list of 10 countries with the highest bread consumption per capita in the world.

10. Italy

Bread consumption per person over a year: 114 lbs

We are starting off our list with Italy. Now, anyone who loves pizza should know very well that Italians like their bread. Pizza is just a fancy bread, to be frank, and Italians would stop at nothing to make their bread interesting to eat. Naturally, they have made it into the list. An average Italian consumes around 115 pounds of bread per year which is truly remarkable. But given how much they love their bread, this is to be expected from the inventors of pizza.

9. Russia

Bread consumption per person over a year: 121 lbs

At number 9 we have Russia. Let’s just listen to what 18th-century historian Ivan Boltin has to say about bread in Russia, “A working man, can eat at one go up to two pounds of black bread together with schi.” When it comes to consuming bread, an average Russian consumes upwards of 120 pounds of bread each year. Well, bread is a Russian staple after all, so this is to be expected.

8. Belgium

Bread consumption per person over a year: 122 lbs

At number 8 we have the land of the waffles, Belgium. While it is true that claiming waffles to be breads would be rather optimistic, but you can know for sure that Belgians love their baked grain products. An average Belgian consumes around 122 pounds of bread each year, which is pretty remarkable. You have to understand, that we are merely talking about the average here, that includes all the people who do not even like bread.

7. Germany

Bread consumption per person over a year: 123 lbs

Okay, now we have Germany. Germany is famous for its sausages and beer, but bread? Well, apparently Germans love their sausages with bread, and after that, they wash it all down with their world famous beer. Sourdough is the mainstay of German breads, and they pretty much use all sorts of grain to make bread, including but not limited to wheat, rye, barley, spelt, oats, millet, corn, and rice.

6. France

Bread consumption per person over a year: 126 lbs

If you love your bread, then it is highly likely that you have encountered a Baguette already. It is the thin and long bread made from lean dough, well known for its crisp crust. Any bread connoisseur would rate the baguette very highly, as it is not only a tasty to eat but a lot of thought has gone into it to make it stand out from the competition, and that is just one type of bread from France.

5. The Netherlands

Bread consumption per person over a year: 137 lbs

We are halfway through our list of 10 countries with the highest bread consumption per capita in the world, and at number 5, we have The Netherlands. The agricultural produce from Netherlands is valued highly throughout the world. Naturally, The Netherlands’ bread would taste better. On top of that, they even go the extra mile to make their breads even tastier by adding additional ingredients and sugar into the dough.

4. Greece

Bread consumption per person over an= year: 150 lbs

Greece ranks 4th on our list of countries with the highest bread consumption per capita in the world. This country has been recognized the birthplace of the western philosophy and basically the whole western way of life, and bread is definitely something very western indeed. As it would appear, Greeks just love their breads and consume up to 150 pounds of bread on average every year.

3. Ukraine

Bread consumption per person over a year: 196 lbs

At number 3 on our list of countries with the highest bread consumption per capita in the world, we have Ukraine. The remarkable thing about Ukraine is that Ukrainians consume roughly 50 pounds more bread on average than our previous entrant, Greece, which is a massive spike in the data, to be honest. However, this is what we found, and we are sharing it with our readers.

2. Bulgaria

Bread consumption per person over a year: 210 lbs

Next up on our list of countries with the highest bread consumption per capita in the world is Bulgaria, with an annual average consumption of bread over 200 pounds, Bulgaria certainly is one of the most bread consuming countries in the world. But the catch is, with over 210 pounds of yearly bread consumption per capita, Bulgaria is still at second place.

1. Turkey

Bread consumption per person over a year: 230 lbs

At the very pinnacle of our list, we have Turkey, the nation that holds a Guinness World Record for consuming the most bread. With over 230 pounds of average bread consumption, no country comes even close to Turkey when it comes to eating bread. Turkey has firmly held this title for some time, and it seems they are not going to let go of it that easily.

That wraps up our list of the 10 countries with the highest bread consumption per capita in the world.