Bottled water is America’s favourite drink

Bottled water is the number one beverage consumed in the United States by volume for the second year running, reaching 13.7 billion gallons (more than 62 billion litres) in 2017, a 7% increase over 2016.

Sales totalled $18.5 billion (+8.8%) and per capita consumption exceeded 42 gallons (+6.2%). By contrast, carbonated drink sales fell for the thirteenth consecutive year, dropping to a per capita consumption of 37.5 gallons (source: International Bottled Water Association IBWA and Beverage Marketing Corporation BMC). Bottled water is predicted to reach more than 50 gallons per capita within just a few years.

These figures are consistent with a Harris Poll conducted for IBWA in which more than three Americans out of five (63%) said that bottled water (still and/or sparkling) is among their favourite beverages, followed by coffee (62%).