China is the world’s leading producer of beer, according to the latest BarthHaas Report. In 2025, the country’s output stood at 354 million hectoliters of beer. A hectoliter is equivalent to one hundred liters. As the following chart shows, the United States is the second biggest producer of beer with an output of 175 million hectoliters last year. However, both countries have seen production decline over the past two years, as have a number of other nations, mostly in the developed world.
As the beer market struggles with changing consumption patterns and stagnating real incomes, countries with aging or declining populations have yet another factor weighing on the alcoholic beverage market. Germany, Spain and Japan all saw their production fall over the course of the past two years.
Rounding off the top 5 countries are Brazil, Mexico and Russia, which all saw production increases since 2023. Asia showed more of a mixed picture with production increasing in Vietnam as well as India, Thailand and the Philippines, while it was down in China, Japan and South Korea. Meanwhile, the African continent saw a significant 16 million hectoliter increase in output since 2023.
