Since the 1970s, Europe’s soft drinks industry has made significant progress to create a healthier drink environment, in support of evolving consumer demand and public health expectations. The sector’s long-standing commitments to sugar reduction, package size reduction, responsible marketing and advertising practices towards children, stringent school policies and clear consumer information have provided European consumers with a healthier drink experience enabling moderate consumption patterns.
This page aims to bring more clarity to the debate on soft drinks consumption and overweight and obesity in Europe. It highlights the decreasing rates of soft drinks consumption in several European countries (where data is publicly available), and the role that soft drinks play in people’s intake of sugars. The sector is doing its part to contribute to healthier diets, as shown by recent national dietary intake data and data from the WHO’s Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) studies and the WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) reports. Yet, urgent action by all sectors of society is needed to effectively address the rates of overweight and obesity in Europe.
Looking at the most recent COSI data (2018-2020) for children across countries in Europe: prevalence of frequent soft drink consumption does not appear to align with prevalence of overweight
Some countries with very high rates of overweight have the lowest proportion of frequent soft drink consumers (e.g. Greece and Spain). Similarly, countries with lower rates of overweight (e.g. Czechia) have a higher proportion of frequent soft drink consumers.
6-9-year-olds who reported overweight (inc. obesity)
Total 6-9-year-olds consuming soft drink every day or most days (4-6 days/week)
AT
BG
CZ
DK
EE
EL
ES
HR
IE
IT
LT
LV
MT
PL
PT
RO
SK
For older children and adolescents, sugary soft drink consumption has declined in 23 WHO European countries/regions between 2014 and 2018, whilst over the same time period prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased in up to a third of countries/region. (reference = HBSC 2018 report).
These data point to the complex issue of overweight and obesity and the need to properly consider the multiple factors behind it. EU policymakers should look at all sources of calories and added sugars, not only sugar-sweetened beverages, in addition to considering different dietary patterns and habits in each country. Addressing overweight and obesity requires coordinated and collective actions from across the entire food and drink industry.
Note:
Only data from European countries participating in the COSI and HBSC reports have been presented. The metrics presented are those as reported in the WHO COSI and HBSC reports respectively.
Sources:
Decreasing rates of daily consumption of sugary soft drinks of 11, 13, 15-year-olds in Europe (2006-2018) based on WHO data
Soft drinks consumption across different age groups (children and adolescents) has decreased across Europe. This demonstrates that the soft drinks sector’s stringent school policies and responsible marketing and advertising practices to children are having a positive impact in helping Europe’s population manage their intake of sugars from soft drinks.
2001
2006
2010
2014
2018
11-year-olds who drink sugary soft drinks daily
13-year-olds who drink sugary soft drinks daily
15-year-olds who drink sugary soft drinks daily
Note: There is not data from other countries. UNESDA will continue monitoring the release of new EU data.
Source: WHO Europe Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) Surveys, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018.
Adapted with permission from Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.: Springer Nature, European Journal of Nutrition, Long-term trends in the consumption of sugary and diet soft drinks among adolescents: a cross-national survey in 21 European countries. Chatelan, A., Lebacq, T., Rouche, M. et al. Copyright © 2022, Springer Nature (2022)
The figure shows the relative decline in the prevalence of daily consumers of sugary soft drinks between 2002 (2006 for Luxembourg and Iceland) and 2018 for 21 countries which had data for at least 4 consecutive years.
Decreasing soft drink consumption rates by country based on national dietary data
ES
Decreasing consumption of soft drinks containing added sugars by 3-9-year-olds (1998-2012)
1998
2012
-40%
Source: EFSA Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database
IE
Decreasing consumption of soft drinks containing added sugars by 5-12-year-olds (2003-2018)
2003
2018
-80%
Source: IUNA, National Children’s Food Surveys
NO
Decreasing consumption of soft drinks containing added sugars by 9 and 13-year-olds (2000-2015)
2000
2015
-50%
Source: Ungkost 2000 and Ungkost 3
UK
Decreasing consumption of soft drinks containing added sugars by 4-10-year-olds (2008-2019)
2008
2019
-60%
Source: NDNS (www.gov.uk)
Contribution from different food categories to sugars intake
Recent available data on the contribution from different food categories to total sugars intake indicates that the soft drinks sector appears not to be the main contributor in many countries. Therefore, EU policymakers need to consider all sources of added sugars, not only sugar sweetened beverages, and take a multi-faceted approach to encourage balanced diets. It also shows that other food and drink categories need to act, because only collective efforts from the entire value chain will help deliver meaningful and positive health impacts.
Over the past decades, the soft drinks sector has actively contributed to reducing consumers’ intake of sugars with its sugar reduction commitments alongside its many other commitments. The sector achieved a 13.3% reduction in average added sugars between 2000 and 2015, and a 14.6% reduction between 2015 and 2019, becoming the only sector to have responded to the EU call for a 10% added sugars reduction by 2020 – and reaching it well ahead of time. In June 2021, Europe’s soft drinks sector announced a new pledge to reduce sugar in its drinks by another 10% by 2025 in the EU27 and the UK. This will represent an impressive overall reduction of 33% in average added sugars over the past two decades.
ES
| Source |
Free sugars intake |
| Chocolates | 22.7% |
| Sugar-sweetened soft drinks | 17.9% |
| Bakery and pastry | 16.1% |
| Other dairy products | 9.69% |
| Yogurt and fermented milks | 8.32% |
| Juices and nectars | 6.57% |
| Sugar | 5.27% |
| Breakfast cereals and cereal bars | 4.06% |
| Other sweets | 1.96% |
| Sports drinks | 1.59% |
| Jam and other | 1.53% |
| Source |
Free sugars intake |
| Sugar-sweetened soft drinks | 30.2% |
| Chocolates | 17.6% |
| Bakery and pastry | 13.1% |
| Sugar | 7.66% |
| Juices and nectars | 6.47% |
| Other dairy products | 5.74% |
| Yogurt and fermented milks | 5.36% |
| Breakfast cereals and cereal bars | 5.04% |
| Other sweets | 1.72% |
| Jam and other | 1.24% |
| Energy drinks | 1.13% |
| Ready-to-eat-meals | 1.10% |
| Sauces and condiments | 0.86% |
| Bread | 0.73% |
| Sausages and other meat products | 0.45% |
| Cheeses | 0.41% |
| Milks | 0.32% |
| Sports drinks | 0.32% |
Source: 2013 ANIBES Study population (Ruiz et al., 2017).
DE
| Source |
Free sugars intake |
| Sugar and sweets | 34.2% |
| Juices | 21.6% |
| Dairy products | 12.4% |
| Sugar-sweetened beverages | 11.2% |
| Sweet bread and cakes | 10% |
| RTE cereals and mueslis | 4.8% |
| Others | 4.5% |
| Fruits and vegetables | 1.2% |
Source: Perrar et al., 2020
DK
| Source |
Total sugars intake |
| Sugar and sweets | 52% |
| Beverages | 24%* |
| Fruit | 13% |
| Milk | 3% |
| Various | 3% |
| Bread and cereals | 2% |
| Vegetables | 1% |
| Fish | 1% |
*Includes coffee, tea, water, soda, soft drinks, wine, and spirits, but not milk and juice.
Source: Pedersen et al., 2015
FR
| Source |
Free sugars intake |
| Other food sources | 17% |
| Cakes and pastries | 16% |
| Sugary drinks | 14% |
| Fruit juices | 14% |
| Dairy desserts | 9% |
| Hot drinks | 6% |
| Chocolate and chocolate bars | 6% |
| Yogurts | 5% |
| Biscuits | 5% |
| Sugary products (sugar, honey, jam…) | 4% |
| Breakfast cereals | 4% |
Source: Deshayes et al., 2021
IE
| Source |
Free sugars |
| Sugars, confectionery & savoury snacks | 26.3% |
| Biscuits, cakes & pastries | 18.0% |
| Breakfast cereals | 11.0% |
| Milk & yogurt | 10.2% |
| Fruit & fruit juices | 10.0% |
| Beverages | 9.6% |
| Creams, ice-creams & chilled deserts | 7.7% |
Source: IUNA, National Children’s Food Surveys (2017-18)
NO
| Source |
Added sugars intake |
| Sugar and sweets | 31% |
| Juice, nectar, soda with sugar | 26% |
| Cakes | 15% |
| Source | Added sugars intake 13-year-olds |
| Sugar and sweets | 35% |
| Juice, nectar, soda with sugar | 31% |
| Cakes | 13% |
Source: Ungkost 3 (2015)
PT
| Source |
Free sugars intake |
| Sweets | 18.2% |
| Soft drinks | 16.0% |
| Yogurts | 11.8% |
| Cookies | 10.6% |
| Breakfast cereals | 10.3% |
| Milkshakes | 10% |
| Cakes | 8.0% |
| Nectars | 5.0% |
| Table sugar | 2.6% |
| Infant cereals | 1.6% |
| 100% fruit juice | 2.8% |
Source: IAN-AF (2015-16)
SL
| Source |
Free sugars intake |
| Bread and bakery | 21.2% |
| Fruit and vegetable juices | 17.1% |
| Soft drinks | 13.4% |
| Dairy | 10.7% |
| Confectionery | 9.2% |
| Cereal and cereal products | 6.2% |
Source: Zupanic et al., 2020
UK
| Source |
Free sugars intake |
| Cereal and cereal products | 37% |
| Sugar, preserves and confectionery | 23% |
| Non-alcoholic beverages | 18% (of which 6% from soft drinks not low-calorie) |
| Milk and milk products | 14% |
| Source |
Free sugars intake |
| Cereal and cereal products | 31% |
| Non-alcoholic beverages | 29% (of which 17% from soft drinks not low-calorie) |
| Sugar, preserves and confectionery | 19% |
| Milk and milk products | 9% |
Source: NDNS, www.gov.uk (2018-19)