Have a look at this graph. These are world’s top consumers of liquid milk in 2009. There are 20 countries, from which 14 are European.
In Spain the average height of youngsters has increased by 10 cm over the last 20 years, due to a feed improvement, specially thanks to an increase in milk consumption (highly rich in calcium which is good for child’s growth). But in Spain per capita milk consumption has decreased in the last three years, by 3.5%. This is not an isolated event, since the EU per capita milk consumption has also decreased by 2.5%. Specially intense has been the reduction in Italy with a sharp decline of 14.7% between 2007 and 2009.
According to the World Dairy Situation 2010 in 2009 world milk production/consumption reached a level of more than 703 million tonnes (+21% in relation to year 2000). This is an average per capita milk consumption of 103 kg (+8% increase in relation to 2000). The decline in milk consumption by the European countries, which are traditional dairy consumers, is being compensated by the growing dairy consumption in Asian countries.
