Figures released by food and drink consultancy Zenith International show that global energy drink consumption surged by 14 per cent in 2011 to 4.8bn litres, adding more than 1.5bn litres since 2007.

Average growth over the past five years has been 10 per cent a year, with value rising by an average 13 per cent a year, to euro 26,500m (£22,500m, US$37,000m) in 2011.

Energy shots rose from US$2bn (£1.3bn, euro 1.5bn) in 2007 to more than US$4.7bn (£3bn, euro 3.5bn) last year.

The top ten consuming countries among the 57 covered by the Zenith report were the United States, Vietnam, China, United Kingdom, Thailand, Mexico, Australia, Germany, Poland and Saudi Arabia.

Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Saudi Arabia and Israel had the highest consumption per person.

North America is still the leading region, with 36 per cent of global volume in 2011, followed by Asia Pacific with 22 per cent and West Europe with 17 per cent. Latin America has made significant gains over the last few years, rising to a seven per cent share. Australasia has also seen its volume share nearly double to four per cent.

Other findings in the Zenith 2011 Global Energy Drinks report showed that the world leading brands are Red Bull, Monster and Burn in energy drinks and 5-Hour Energy in energy shots; and that key regional brands include Power Horse in the Middle East, Lipovitan in Asia Pacific and V in Australasia.

By 2016, Zenith estimates that the global market will have jumped by a further 35 per cent to 6.5bn litres.

Image : Red Bull, a global best seller