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(Submit) Search with google * Become a supporter * Subscribe * Sign in/up * (Submit) My account + Comment activity + Edit profile + Email preferences + Change password + Sign out * (Submit) International edition + switch to the UK edition + switch to the US edition + switch to the Australia edition * Jobs * Dating * Holidays * The Guardian app * Video * Podcasts * Pictures * Newsletters * Today's paper * The Observer * Digital archive * Crosswords * Facebook * Twitter * Jobs * Dating * Holidays * World * Europe * US * Americas * Asia * Australia * Middle East * Africa * Inequality * Cities * Global development (Submit) More sign in * Comment activity * Edit profile * Email preferences * Change password * Sign out become a supporter subscribe search find a job dating more from the guardian: * dating * find a job change edition: * switch to the UK edition switch to the US edition switch to the AU edition International edition * switch to the UK edition * switch to the US edition * switch to the Australia edition The Guardian - Back to home * home * › world * › africa * middle east * cities * development * europe * US * americas * asia * australia * home * UK * world selected * sport * football * opinion * culture * business * lifestyle * fashion * environment * tech * travel browse all sections close Nigeria Nigeria's love of champagne takes sales growth to second highest in world Not everyone in country where 63% live on less than $1 a day is impressed with the $50m and rising spent each year on fizz Champagne bottles displayed at a roadsid [_] Champagne is displayed at a shop in Lagos. Consumption of champagne in Nigeria is expected to reach 1.1m litres by 2017. Photograph: Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images Nigeria Nigeria's love of champagne takes sales growth to second highest in world Not everyone in country where 63% live on less than $1 a day is impressed with the $50m and rising spent each year on fizz Afua Hirsch, west Africa correspondent Wed 8 May ‘13 20.16 BST First published on Wed 8 May ‘13 20.16 BST * Share on Facebook * Share on Twitter * Share via Email * (Submit) View more sharing options * Share on LinkedIn * Share on Pinterest * Share on Google+ * Share on WhatsApp * Share on Messenger * (Submit) Close This article is 4 years old The lyrics to Pop Champagne – one of many Nigerian pop songs to pay homage to the ubiquitous French drink – are self explanatory. "We dey pop champagne, pop pop pop pop, pop champagne!" the song goes, as a nightclub jumps with men holding bottles and women glasses full of bubbly. But Nigerians' love of champagne is fast becoming fact as well as legend – with new figures forecasting that champagne consumption in the west African country will reach 1.1 million litres by 2017, with 2011 consumption at almost 8bn naira (£31m). The figures, from research company Euromonitor, found that Nigeria had the fastest growing rate of new champagne consumption in the world, second only to France, and ahead of rapid growth nations Brazil and China, and established markets such as the US and Australia. "Champagne has its own demographic on the higher end of things – it's not even about the middle class, it's about the elite," said Spiros Malandrakis, a senior analyst at Euromonitor. "People may find it surprising that Nigeria came second in the rankings, but it has an extremely extravagant elite, with Nollywood and the oil industry." Nigerians' love of big spending has attracted growing attention in recent months. Last year figures revealed that Nigerian tourists in the UK are the fourth biggest foreign spenders, ringing up an average £500 in each shop where they make purchases – four times what the average UK shopper spends. "At all the celebrity parties in Lagos, they always have champagne. And it has to be the finest – Cristal, Dom Pérignon or Moet et Chandon rosé – these are the things that are important symbols here," said Vanessa Walters, the Lagos-based editor of Nigerian women's magazine Genevieve. "People say that at every elite event the champagne has to be flowing, and that how much champagne there is is a one-upmanship thing, like showing people that your house is bigger than theirs." But not everyone in Nigeria – 63% of whose 160 million population still live on less than $1 a day – is impressed with the extent of Nigerian champagne consumption. "Nigerians' unhealthy enthusiasm for anything foreign or imported is a plague that continues to pull the country back into this sort of wasteful expenditure," said an editorial in Nigerian newspaper the Daily Trust in response to the figures. "[These figures] reveal the profligacy that is offensive, if not obscene." Topics * Nigeria * Africa * Wine * Food & drink industry * news * Share on Facebook * Share on Twitter * Share via Email * Share on LinkedIn * Share on Pinterest * Share on Google+ * Share on WhatsApp * Share on Messenger * Reuse this content more on this story * What's it like being black in Norway? Afua Hirsch Being one of the only black women in Norway marked her mother out for special attention – she was lavished with prawn sandwiches. So, how would Afua fare? Published: 26 May 2013 What's it like being black in Norway? * Brides with bristles Afua Hirsch In Ghana women love to flaunt their body hair and are even jealous of each other's hirsute arms – but don't for a moment think it's in the cause of feminism... Published: 19 May 2013 Brides with bristles * Ghana plays ball as China splashes cash on gyms and stadiums Chinese arms manufacturer PTI has paid for stadiums and gyms but its interest in the African nation is more than sporting, writes Afua Hirsch Published: 29 Apr 2013 Ghana plays ball as China splashes cash on gyms and stadiums * Renzo Piano's new Oslo art gallery is a strangely soulless place 'A place for art makes the city a better place to be,' Renzo Piano told me. But his pristine, finely crafted Astrup Fearnley Museum conceals a corporate world of lobby art Published: 11 Oct 2012 Renzo Piano's new Oslo art gallery is a strangely soulless place most viewed The Guardian back to top * home * UK * world selected * sport * football * opinion * culture * business * lifestyle * fashion * environment * tech * travel all sections close * home * UK + education + media + society + law + scotland + wales + northern ireland * world selected + europe + US + americas + asia + australia + africa + middle east + cities + development * sport + football + cricket + rugby union + F1 + tennis + golf + cycling + boxing + racing + rugby league * football + live scores + tables + competitions + results + fixtures + clubs * opinion + columnists + letters + editorials * culture + film + tv & radio + music + games + books + art & design + stage + classical * business + economics + banking + retail + markets + project syndicate * lifestyle + food + recipes + health & fitness + love & sex + family + women + home & garden * fashion * environment + climate change + wildlife + energy + pollution * tech * travel + UK + europe + US * money + property + savings + pensions + borrowing + careers * science * professional networks * the observer * today's paper + obituaries + g2 + weekend + the guide + saturday review * sunday's paper + comment + the new review + observer magazine * membership * crosswords + blog + editor + quick + cryptic + prize + quiptic + genius + speedy + everyman + azed + weekend * video + podcasts * digital archive * World * › Nigeria * World * Europe * US * Americas * Asia * Australia * Middle East * Africa * Inequality * Cities * Global development back to top IFRAME: /email/form/footer/37 * become a supporter * make a contribution * securedrop * ask for help * advertise with us * work for us * contact us * complaints & corrections * terms & conditions * privacy policy * cookie policy * digital newspaper archive * all topics * all contributors * Facebook * Twitter © 2018 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. 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