We’re wrapping up our “Where Coffee is Hot” series by looking at Coffee Review readership by country. In 2013, we hosted readers from 233 countries and territories, which must be just about all of them.
We’ll look at our readership three ways: total readers in 2013, per capita readers in 2013, and percentage growth from 2012 to 2013. Total readers in 2013 is somewhat predictable. Countries with large English speaking populations will tend to rank higher on the list.
When we normalize for each country’s population, we see a slightly different picture, one not just based on population but also on passion for coffee. English speaking countries still have an advantage, but not over each other based on population alone.
Finally, we look at percentage growth from 2012 to 2013, where smaller countries and non-English speaking countries have an advantage because their readership is growing off of a smaller base. So, while the United States may have the most readers and most readers per capita, it is growing much slower than most other countries.
So, here are the lists….
Ranking by Readership in 2013
1. United States
2. Canada
3. United Kingdom
4. Australia
5. Taiwan
6. Thailand
7. China
8. India
9. Malaysia
10. Philippines
11. South Korea
12. Hong Kong
13. Singapore
14. Indonesia
15. Germany
16. Netherlands
17. Greece
18. Japan
19. Mexico
20. South Africa
It’s not surprising that the top four countries are the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia. They all have significant English speaking populations, well developed coffee cultures, strong purchasing power, as well as high Internet access and literacy rates. As an aside, English-speaking population may not be as big of a factor as one thinks. I was surprised by the countries that have the largest English-speaking populations: 1) United States; 2) India; 3) Pakistan; 4) Nigeria; 5) United Kingdom. Canada is tenth on the list. Australia is 13th. Wow! View the full list on Wikipedia.
It’s interesting to note that after the top 4 on the list, the next ten countries, starting with Taiwan, are all in Asia.
Ranking by Per Capita Readership in 2013
1. United States
2. Canada
3. Singapore
4. Hong Kong
5. Australia
6. Taiwan
7. New Zealand
8. Ireland
9. United Kingdom
10. Norway
11. Greece
12. Denmark
13. Costa Rica
14. Slovakia
15. United Arab Emirates
16. Puerto Rico
17. Malaysia
18. Netherlands
19. Panama
20. Finland
Interesting to see Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Ireland, and Norway pop into the top 10.
Ranking by Percentage Growth from 2012 to 2013
One might argue that this list is the best measure of “Where Coffee is Hot.” Maybe not “big,” but “hot.”
1. China
2. Slovakia
3. Greece
4. Romania
5. United Arab Emirates
6. India
7. Hungary
8. Malaysia
9. New Zealand
10. Philippines
11. Vietnam
12. Taiwan
13. Ukraine
14. Singapore
15. Russia
16. Japan
17. Sweden
18. Switzerland
19. Ireland
20. Italy
21. Belgium
22. South Africa
China topped the list with year-over-year readership growth of more than 200%. We included 22 countries on this list, as they all grew more than 50% over 2012.
It’s impossible to predict what 2014 will look like, but we couldn’t help wonder but what 2014 readership would be like if we projected 2013 growth rates to 2013 traffic. In case you’re interested, the top ten would be: 1) United States; 2) Canada; 3) United Kingdom; 4) China; 5) Taiwan; 6) Australia; 7) India; 8) Malaysia; 9) Philippines; 10) Thailand. It’s hard to imagine that readership in China would continue its torrid growth rate but Taiwan readership has already surpassed Australia in 2014.
It’s great to see coffee is hot around the world. We’re excited to see what 2014 brings. Please share your observations and comments.
