We gathered 30 of the top Bottled Water statistics to help understand who is consuming bottled water, why, where and what the health and environmental issues are. Because despite increasing awareness of plastic related health issues, microplastics and plastic pollution, the bottled water industry keeps growing.
Bottled Water Statistics
Top 10 countries in bottled water consumption are:
- China (39.4 billion liters)
- USA (38.3 billion liters)
- Mexico (30.9 billion liters)
- Indonesia (18 billion liters)
- Brazil (17.9 billion liters)
- Thailand (14.9 billion liters)
- Italy (11.9 billion liters)
- Germany (11.7 billion liters)
- India (7.8 billion liters)
- France (7.4 billion liters)
Source: Worldatlas for 2022
The average price of bottled water:
Europe: €0.58 for a 1.5 liter bottle of water (Source: Numbeo)
USA: Between 70 cents and $1.50 for 16-ounce or 20-ounce bottle. 1 gallon costs $1.23 (Source: Drink Optimum 2023)
Bottled Water Consumption Statistics
The top 3 reasons that people consume bottled water at home are
- Taste (72%)
- Lack of trust in tap water (51%)
- Don’t have drinkable tap water (32%)
Source: Tapp Water Surveys with 500 people per country in Spain, UK and US
According to a survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of American Water, among the 69 percent of respondents who prefer bottled water to tap water, 32 percent say it’s simply a shopping habit
Trust in tap water statistics
Nearly seven in 10 trust that their tap water is safe to drink, yet nearly one in four still refuse to drink it.
54 percent say they would not drink tap water anywhere outside of their homes.
Of those polled who feel their tap water is not safe to drink, the top concern revolves around taste (55%), possible contamination (54%), and the fear it’s not clean (50%).
Source: TAPP Water Survey 2020-2022 with an audience of 500 per country in Spain, UK and US.
Why drink bottled water statistics
37 percent say they honestly can’t remember why they prefer bottled over tap.
Bottled water contaminants statistics
- 92% of bottled water contains microplastics
- 25% of bottled water being sold in the US is actually just filled with tap water before being sealed.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) reports that a four-year review of the safety of the water industry found no evidence supporting that bottled water is by any means superior. (Source: The Truth About Tap (nrdc.org))
Statistics about bottled water recycling
PET bottles can be recycled, but only one in five bottles ever makes it to the recycling bin; the rest are just taking up space and contaminating our precious planet.
PET bottled water recycling rates per region
- US: 27-29% collected
- Europe: 49% collected
The U.S. recycling rate for postconsumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) increased to 28.6 percent in 2021, up from 27.1 percent in 2020, while the North American rate (U.S., Canada and Mexico) increased to 36.8 percent, up from 34.2 percent in 2020, according to a report released by the National Association for PET. As this is selfreported by the plastic industry the real recycling rate is probably lower. Only 5% of total plastics collected in the US are recycled. Source: National Association for PET
New bottles placed on the EU market contain an average of just 17% of recycled PET, despite a recycling rate of around 50%, according to the study, conducted for the environmental NGO Zero Waste Europe. Source: Euractiv
For more details on the European recycling rates by country visit UNESDA. Highest is Denmark with 96% and lowest Greece with 32%.
Somewhere between 50-75% of PET bottles end up on landfills or in nature. It takes a whopping 450 years for a plastic bottle to decompose.
More stats about tap water, filtered water and bottled water
For more stats and information visit our other articles on these topics:
Tap Water Statistics for Spain
Tap Water Statistics for Germany (coming soon)
Bottled Water Consumption Globally
