The Country That Eats The Most Ice Cream Per Person In The World

A summer's day isn't complete without a scoop or two (or three) of good ice cream. Indeed, our love affair with the frozen dessert knows no boundaries, one of the reasons why so many countries have their own version of it. But some places consume ice cream more readily than others, and that's especially true down under. According to World Population Review, the world's top ice cream consumer per person in 2026 is none other than New Zealand.

It might seem strange that the Oceanian state stands above everywhere else, especially when some might have expected Italy, home of the almighty gelato and the even more indulgent croissant gelato breakfast sandwich, or the U.S., which gave the world soft-serve — although some might question if that's even ice cream in the first place — to wrestle their way to the top. But with 28.4 liters per capita every year, New Zealand towers comfortably above the runners-up, the U.S. at 20.8 and Australia at 18. The Nordic states don't fare too badly, with Finland, Sweden, and Denmark in the top 10, all above Italy, which squeezes in at ninth place with 8 liters.

The Kiwi affection for all things ice cream isn't a coincidence. New Zealand has a long relationship with the treat, which emerged in the 19th century and blossomed in the 1920s and '30s, when the health benefits of milk products were widely promoted. Access to high-quality dairy and the rise of major ice cream companies like Tip Top helped consolidate the dessert's place in Kiwis' lives (and hearts) and led to the country's ever-evolving ice cream scene.

Kiwis may be the world's most avid ice cream consumers, but that doesn't mean that their relationship with the treat is one-sided. Indeed, the country has its own distinct ice cream traditions, which date back more than 100 years.

The most traditional of these is hokey pokey, which has now become a staple in Australia as well. Originating in its earliest form in the South Island city of Dunedin at the end of the 1800s, before the ice cream flavor officially launched in the 1950s, classic hokey pokey comprises vanilla ice cream with crunchy chunks of honeycomb toffee. As with most traditional recipes, its mouthwatering formula hasn't exactly been set in stone. Around the 1980s, Tip Top changed the honeycomb pieces from larger, solid pieces to smaller balls, largely to make the manufacturing process more straightforward. Today, you can find hokey pokey across ice cream parlors and supermarket freezers in New Zealand, and it is a major emblem of Kiwiana — the country's distinct pop culture, which borrows from the midcentury Americana template.

But New Zealand's ice cream traditions haven't been frozen in time. The country's dessert scene is in a constant state of innovation, and with time — and the rise of social media — newer, aesthetically friendly Kiwi-made varieties of the frozen dessert have been popping up. Among these is "real fruit ice cream," made with a combination of regular vanilla ice cream and frozen fruit chunks served soft-serve style in an elongated pile of even swirls. Its visual appeal is self-evident, and it's a popular, photogenic ice cream type whose allure is such that it draws long queues at parlors across the country.