The Netherlands is a bigger beer country than Belgium, at least in terms of production and export, according to data from the Eurostat statistics office for 2021.
With around 1.9 billion litres, Belgium's northern neighbour is the largest beer exporter in the EU.
Belgium had to settle for second place, exporting 1.7 billion litres of beer last year. This represents about 19% of all beer exported from Europe.
Non-alcoholic beer is not included in these figures.
Germany remains the largest beer producer in the EU, with an output of 7.5 billion litres, or almost a quarter of all beer brewed in Europe. However, the Germans drink a lot of it themselves since they are only in third place in terms of exports, with around 1.6 billion litres.
Poland and Spain, with 3.7 billion litres, and the Netherlands, with 2.5 billion litres, follow as Europe's main beer producers. Belgium did not make it into the top five.
In total, 33.1 billion litres of beer were brewed last year (+3%). That corresponds to 78 litres per European.
The main destinations for European beer in 2021 were the United Kingdom and the United States - which together accounted for 41% of EU beer exports - with Russia in third place.
