Switzerland named the world's 7th most cheese loving nation
By Jan de Boer
With Swiss cheeses being renowned as some of the best in the world, it’s almost inevitable that the people of this country are some of the most fromage-obsessed on the planet. Now, a new study by market research firm Mintel has named Switzerland as the seventh most cheese-mad nation on earth.
The World's Cheesiest Nations by Mintel
To create the list of the World’s Cheesiest Nations - yes, that is the title - Mintel analysed how valued cheese is in each country around the world. This was done by comparing how valuable the cheese market is in each country, how much cheese is exported and imported, the number of different cheese types on offer and how often cheese is searched online in each nation.
Weighted scores were given in each category, creating a total score out of 100.
Dutch are the most cheese-obsessed in the world
For 2024, the Netherlands was ranked as the most cheese-mad nation on earth with a score of 76,8. Occupying the rest of the top six were France (39,3), Belgium (39,1), the United States (31,7), Austria (30,7) and the United Kingdom (30,3).
Despite only having a population 17,5 million people, the Dutch cheese market is the fourth most valuable in the world at 258 million US dollars, just behind France (374 million), Germany (293) and Mexico (276).
The Dutch are also great importers of cheese, shipping over 55 million kilos of cheese to Dutch cities a year, just behind Mexico with 56 million. In terms of the number of cheeses, the United States took the top with 523 different varieties - some of which don’t taste like plastic, we assume.
Switzerland named the seventh cheesiest nation on earth
Coming in a very respectable seventh place was Switzerland with a score of 29,1. The ranking noted that the Swiss have a penchant for cheese from abroad, with the country importing the third highest amount per capita, behind the Netherlands and Belgium.
While this may seem surprising to local cheese lovers across Swiss cities and cantons, Mintel explained that the import figures simply show that the people of the alpine nation eat a lot of cheese - for instance, cheese imports to Switzerland only started to outpace exports in 2023. According to Swissinfo, the people of the alpine nation ate 22,9 kilos of cheese each in 2022.
You could argue that the country isn’t higher up in the ranking because of its size, with only 8.890 searches for cheese recorded in Switzerland every month by the study, compared to America’s 246.000 queries. While a lower value, it still means that on average, a population roughly the size of Winterthur took to the internet and searched about cheese at least once in the last year.
The 10 cheesiest nations on earth
In all, here are the 10 most cheese-loving nations, according to Mintel:
- The Netherlands (76,8)
- France (39,3)
- Belgium (39,1)
- United States (31,7)
- Austria (30,7)
- United Kingdom (30,3)
- Switzerland (29,1)
- Sweden (28,7)
- Denmark (27,9)
- Finland (27,9)
For more information, check out the official website.
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Jan studied History at the University of York and Broadcast Journalism at the University of Sheffield. Though born in York, Jan has lived most of his life in Zurich and has worked as a journalist, writer and editor since 2016.
While he has plunged head-first back into life in Switzerland since returning to the country in 2020, he still enjoys a taste of home at pub quizzes and karaoke nights.Read more