Mintel Reveals the World’s Cheesiest Nations

With a worldwide cheese market that’s nonetheless rising, cheese has lengthy been a dietary staple for communities world wide. Although its precise origins are unknown, cheese has a historical past relationship again to round 8000 BCE. There are references to cheesemaking in historical Greek mythology and in imagery in historical Egyptian tomb murals, so we are able to say with confidence that folks all around the world have been having fun with consuming cheese for a lot of tons of of years.

To get an understanding of simply how in style cheese is world wide in 2024, Mintel has collated knowledge to discover and analyse which nations love cheese probably the most. 

We’ve taken a have a look at the nations the place cheeses originate, which import probably the most cheese, and that are probably the most concerned about cheese. Utilizing this knowledge, we now have scored every nation out of 100 based mostly on their imports, authentic cheese manufacturing, and Google searches for ‘cheese’ in native languages, and ranked our very personal prime ten. Be part of Mintel as we reveal the world’s cheesiest nations.

With 38 cheese varieties originating within the Netherlands, together with international favourites like gouda and edam, it ought to come as no shock that the Netherlands is the primary nation of cheese lovers on the planet! Nevertheless, with a comparatively small inhabitants of 17 million, it’s spectacular that the Netherlands has crushed a lot larger nations to the highest spot. Their small inhabitants imports greater than $14 value of cheese per individual annually, making them the most important cheese patrons of any nation.

The Netherlands secured their fame by having probably the most Google searches for ‘cheese’ in native languages per capita out of all of the nations on the planet. Not solely are they trying to find cheese, however they purchase a variety of it too. Within the Netherlands, a median of three.1kg of cheese is imported per individual annually, making them the cheesiest nation on the planet.

With a staggering commerce worth of just about 375 million USD, France actually places its cash the place its mouth is in terms of loving cheese. Plus, with 246 kinds of cheese hailing from France, together with staples like brie, roquefort, and camembert, France is a serious participant in cheese manufacturing globally. To say that the French love cheese could be underselling it – with over 90,000 Google searches month-to-month for ‘fromage’, it’s clear that France deserves its place because the second cheesiest nation. Nevertheless, Mintel reported in 2024 {that a} quarter of French customers stated that they have been consuming much less cheese on account of environmental considerations, so maybe we are able to count on to see France’s place regulate on this listing within the close to future.

As a nation that isn’t well-known for producing its personal cheeses, in contrast to another nations on this listing, Belgium could also be a shock look. With solely 13 cheeses hailing from Belgium, and a comparatively low degree of Google searches every month, Belgium may very well be mistaken for a comparatively non-cheesy nation.

Nevertheless, with a median commerce worth per individual of greater than $11, they arrive in second to the Netherlands when it comes to worth per capita. To have a look at that one other manner, Belgians import greater than 1.6kg of cheese per individual annually – rating second on the planet. So, it might be a small nation, however it’s a nation of cheese lovers!

Firstly, the USA is likely one of the cheesiest nations on the planet merely due to what number of cheeses they’ve on supply! There are 523 cheeses which originate within the USA, in order that’s loads of choices for all palates. 

The USA has the third-largest inhabitants (333 million individuals) of the nations we analysed, behind solely India and China. So, given the extraordinarily excessive inhabitants, it’s shocking that the USA is just not the world’s greatest importer of cheese. The truth is, it falls behind 29 different nations whose commerce worth is larger than that of the USA, together with a lot smaller nations like Austria, Lebanon, and Norway. 

Nevertheless, with the vast majority of Individuals saying they haven’t heard of cheeses like paneer and halloumi, however 96% consuming Cheddar, the comparatively low commerce worth may communicate to extra native tastes. With greater than 5 hundred American cheese varieties, plainly Individuals want to eat their very own cheese relatively than imported varieties.

One other European cheese-loving nation, Austria ranks fourth on the planet for commerce worth per capita. Spending greater than $64 million on importing cheeses per yr, and with 41 Austrian cheese varieties to get pleasure from, together with bergkäse and alpenkäse, it’s clear that Austria is a nation desirous to take pleasure in cheese, each in selection and abundance. 

Well-known for cheese like Cheddar and Stilton, the UK has earned its spot on the listing of the world’s cheesiest nations. Reaching the identical variety of Google Searches per yr as France, however with a inhabitants of 1 million fewer individuals, the individuals of the UK present a transparent love for cheese. This love is ready to develop, having already grown by 44% within the final 5 years, as Mintel forecasts UK cheese gross sales to achieve £4.5 billion by 2028.

However how does this love translate into monetary worth, past search curiosity? The UK has a commerce worth per capita of round $2.15 – a comparatively low worth for a nation with an evident curiosity in cheese. Equally to the USA, the UK has a fantastic many native cheeses – 261 in complete. With 70% of British customers buying cheddar, and an extra 36% buying regional British cheeses, plainly cheese lovers within the UK want to eat cheeses from the UK than to import.

With Switzerland rating because the seventh cheesiest nation on the planet, Europe is represented as soon as extra in its love of cheese!

Switzerland is very prolific in importing cheese, rating third highest on the planet for commerce worth per capita; falling simply behind the Netherlands and Belgium. This is perhaps barely shocking contemplating Swiss cheese is a globally well-known selection, however with 32 kinds of cheese coming from Switzerland, they’re comparatively low when it comes to in-house manufacturing. Regardless of Swiss cheese being a beloved selection, it appears Swiss customers want to import extra unique cheeses from different nations.

With cheese consumption notably constant throughout Scandinavia, Sweden secures eighth place and is adopted intently by Denmark after which Finland within the listing of the world’s most cheese-loving nations. Regardless of coming in our closing slot in our cheese-loving listing, Finland spends probably the most on importing cheeses per capita, with Sweden and Denmark spending between $4-5 per individual. Additionally, Finland spends $5.64 per individual, which places them forward of Sweden and Denmark when it comes to common spend.

Nevertheless, Finland loses factors of their on-line curiosity in cheese, in addition to their very own cheese manufacturing. Finland’s cheese-related Google Searches complete round a 3rd fewer than Denmark’s monthly, with Denmark demonstrating the third-highest month-to-month search quantity. This means to us that Finland shows the least on-line curiosity in cheese of the three nations.

Lastly, Sweden takes the (cheese)cake with their very own cheese manufacturing. There are 25 cheese varieties with origins in Sweden, in comparison with solely 16 in Denmark and 6 in Finland.

So, we all know which nations are the most important cheese lovers general – however which nations spend probably the most on importing their favorite dairy merchandise? Let’s dive into the UN Comtrade knowledge to analyse which nations are importing probably the most cheese.

France is the most important importer of cheese on the planet, spending a complete of $374 million on cheese annually. With a small inhabitants and loads of native cheeses, this can be a staggering quantity. This speaks to a rising development in France of consuming cheese as a cheap different to meat, with almost half of French customers doing so.

Not showing in Mintel’s general listing of Prime 10 Cheesiest Nations, Germany is the truth is the second largest importer of cheeses on the planet. Germany spends $294 million on cheese imports per yr.

With solely 11 kinds of cheese originating in Mexico, there’s a love of cheese that should be imported. This is the reason Mexico is spending $276 million on cheese imports per yr.

The cheesiest nation on the planet, the Netherlands imports a complete lot of cheese – totalling a spend of $259 million per yr.

Regardless of not that includes in Mintel’s Prime 10 Cheesiest Nations, China imports a whopping $186 million value of cheese annually to accommodate their huge inhabitants.

Within the prime spot for cheese imports by weight, Mexico brings in 56 million kilograms of cheese annually.

Our cheesiest nation imports nearly as a lot as Mexico, which has seven occasions the inhabitants. The Netherlands imports 55 million kilograms of cheese per yr.

The second cheesiest nation on the planet is third when it comes to imports by weight, bringing in 52 million kilograms of cheese per yr.

Germany secures its spot as an enormous importer of cheese, in weight in addition to commerce worth,  importing 45 million kilograms of cheese per yr. 

With such a big inhabitants, it’s no shock that whilst a comparatively non-cheesy nation, China nonetheless imports 33 million kilograms of cheese per yr.

Being a nation of cheese lovers isn’t nearly how a lot you purchase – it’s additionally about how you’re in cheese. Let’s take a look at which nations search cheese-related queries probably the most, utilizing Google Adverts Search knowledge. 

With a big inhabitants of cheese lovers, and rating fourth on our Prime Ten listing of cheese-loving nations, the individuals of the USA use Google to seek for cheese greater than 246,000 occasions every month. That’s equal to six.6 occasions per individual.

Though India is just not one of many world’s cheesiest nations, paneer cheese is a staple of many Indian diets as a supply of protein and an alternative choice to meat in meals. This may very well be why Indians search cheese-related queries 175,000 occasions monthly.

Though Japan ranks low on the listing of cheesiest nations on the planet, at twenty ninth, they seek for cheese 110,000 occasions monthly, putting them above the UK in cheese-related search queries.

One of many greatest customers and producers of cheese on the planet, the individuals of the UK are additionally concerned about looking on-line for cheese! 90,500 occasions monthly, to be precise.

With the identical month-to-month search quantity because the UK, however a bigger inhabitants, France is available in at fifth, when it comes to the nations mostly trying to find cheese on-line.

Once more trying to find cheese-related queries 90,500 occasions monthly, however with a a lot bigger inhabitants, Brazil ranks simply behind the UK and France in search complete.

In an effort to decide the world’s greatest cheese lovers we created a seedlist of cheese-producing nations from cheese.com. We scraped cheese.com to get an inventory of what number of cheeses are produced by every nation on their listing.

We used the newest UN Comtrade knowledge on imports of Cheese and Curd for every of those nations. We took knowledge on Commerce Worth and Web Imports (kg).

We then wished to search out out which nation searches for ‘cheese’ probably the most. We then took an inventory of the official languages of every of those nations and translated the phrase for ‘cheese’. We then used these translations to learn the way many occasions, on common, every nation looked for cheese every month between Jan 2023 – Dec 2023.

We additionally collected knowledge from the World Financial institution to get the newest inhabitants figures for every nation.