According to yumda, cheese consumption in Germany reached a new record high in 2025.
Last year, average per capita cheese consumption in Germany rose by 900 g compared with 2024, reaching 26.4 kg per year. This is almost 3 kg more than the average consumption in Switzerland.
Gouda has been the most popular cheese for years, followed by Camembert and Emmental, with cream cheese, mozzarella and Edam taking the remaining places. This is evidenced by the results of a representative survey conducted by ZMB and Milchindustrie-Verband e. V. on various issues relating to dairy products, based on a survey last conducted in 2019.
Although only 5.8% of the 1,017 respondents said they never eat cheese, 45.5% emphasised that they would never give up cheese under any circumstances!
Gender differences were also observed: women mentioned cream cheese almost twice as often (20%) as men, who chose this type of cheese (9%). Conversely, when it came to Tilsiter, men preferred this variety twice as often (8%) as women (4%).
Overall, dairy plants in Germany produced 2.76 million tonnes of cheese last year, which is approximately 20,000 tonnes more than in 2024. This means that cheese production in Germany has been growing steadily for three years now.
Сheese is the most popular dairy product, followed by natural yoghurt and drinking milk. Other dairy products are also very popular, and their per capita consumption has risen. As for mixed milk drinks, consumption among German citizens rose from 31.3 to 32.0 kg per capita last year. Consumption of natural yoghurt increased by 0.3 kg, butter by 0.2 kg, and cream by 0.1 kg.
This clearly shows that cheese, in particular, is well received by consumers. As part of a balanced diet, many people enjoy it every day in a wide variety of ways – at breakfast, lunch, dinner and between meals. And various other dairy products round out the overall picture of a healthy, varied and balanced diet.
Source: yumda
