Money spent on alcohol in the north has jumped by nearly €6 million from 2014 to 2015.

According to recent figures, €33 million was spent on importing alcohol in 2014 with this figure rising to €39 million in 2015.

Amongst the alcohol imported, whiskey is top, followed by raki (ouzo) in second. The figures from the trade department showed that the north paid €13 million for 1.79 million litres of whiskey in 2015, with the UK topping the list of originating countries.

In 2015, Turkish Cypriots spent €3.2 million on 399,000 litres of imported raki from Turkey.

Another alcoholic beverage on the rise is beer. In 2014, 9.9 million litres of beer was imported, whilst this figure rose to 12 million litres in 2015. Of the €6 million spent on beer, just over €5.5 million was directed toward Turkish beer.

Wine is the fourth most imported alcoholic beverage to the north, with €3.4 million spent in 2015. Turkey, Italy, France and South Africa are the top four countries from where wine is imported. The figures showed that vodka and gin are also on the rise.

Zivania from the south

In 2014, Turkish Cypriots legally brought over 21,245 litres of zivania from the south; however, this fell to 2,488 litres in 2015.

A study last year by the British Health Journal for Cyprus showed that the island had the ‘lowest rate of alcohol consumption among 56 countries’, with 0.64 units per week. The study also said that a genetic variant which lowered people’s alcohol consumption was high amongst Cypriots at 37%.