Distillers Country guides / Guatemala
Guatemala
A one-page guide to Guatemala for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Guatemala City
- Official languages
- Spanish (Mayan languages, Garifuna recognised)
- Currency
- Guatemalan quetzal (GTQ)
- Time zone
- UTC-6 (CST)
- Area
- 108,889 km²
People
- Population
- 18.7 million (2025)
- Population growth
- 1.5% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 56.3%
- Aged under 15
- 31.0%
- Aged 65 and over
- 5.0%
- Life expectancy
- 72.7 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$123.3 billion (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$6,598 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 4.28% (2025)
- Inflation
- 1.49% (2025)
Alcohol
- Alcohol is
- Legal
- Legal drinking age
- 18 for on- and off-premise sales of all beverages (WHO 2018 country profile, status 2016: https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/country-profiles/substances-abuse/GTM.pdf)
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 2.85 litres of pure alcohol (2022)
- What people drink
- Beer 56%, wine 2%, spirits 42% (2016)
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Wikipedia - Guatemala; Wikipedia - Ron Zacapa; Wikipedia - Cervecería Centro Americana; WHO country profile GTM; PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries: Guatemala - other taxes; Industrias Licoreras de Guatemala - Wikipedia; Goods Across Borders: Guatemala allowances (secondary; cites national customs); Cámara de Industria de Guatemala (national industry chamber). Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.