More wine is drunk per person in the Vatican City than in any other country in the world, according to the latest statistics released by the Wine Institute. 
 
 The figures show that residents of the Vatican consume 74 litres of wine on average – roughly equivalent to 105 bottles over the course of a year. 
 
 That’s around double the amount drunk by the average person in France or Italy as a whole, and triple the quantity consumed in the UK. 
 
 There is no denying that the population of the Vatican represents an unusual, and rather uniform, demographic. 
 
 As well as the occupational hazard of being required to take ceremonial Communion wine, the National Catholic Reporter said Vatican residents are more likely to be old, male, highly educated and eat in larger groups – all factors that can contribute to greater wine consumption. 
 
 These aspects of the Vatican’s national character are more likely to put it at the top than simply its size alone – though other so-called microstates also featured prominently in the Wine Institute’s list. 
 
 The fact that it only has a population of around 800 people does make it easy for per-capita figures to be distorted by outlying groups, however – and in the Vatican there is reportedly a single supermarket supplying everyone with wine almost completely tax-free. ||||| Image copyright Getty Images 
 
 If your wine was served in a smaller glass, would you drink less of it? 
 
 That is the question being posed in a study, published in the BMJ, into the growing size of wine glasses. 
 
 University of Cambridge researchers found glass size grew from an average 66ml in the 1700s to 449ml today - a near sevenfold increase - and wine drinking nearly doubled from 1980-2004. 
 
 "When it comes to how much we drink, wine glass size probably does matter," says study author Prof Theresa Marteau. 
 
 The increase in the capacity of wine glasses has been more rapid since the 1990s. 
 
 The researchers think one reason for this could be that the demand for larger glasses by the US market was met by an increase in the size of glasses made in England. 
 
 'Highly plausible' 
 
 Pubs generally sell wine in measures of 125ml, 175ml and 250ml. 
 
 Wine writer Jancis Robinson is one of those who believes that larger glasses and higher consumption are likely to go hand in hand. 
 
 "I have long been a critic of the 175ml wine glass," she says. 
 
 "Not just because it encourages people to drink more than they intended, but also because white and pink wines tend to warm up in them, encouraging people to finish their contents before they get too warm to be refreshing." 
 
 But a British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) spokesman told the BBC that pubs must offer smaller measures so that customers had a choice. 
 
 Prof Marteau says that in the same way larger plates mean people eat more, evidence suggests a similar effect for wine glasses, although the researchers could not prove this. 
 
 "We speculate there are two main mechanisms: capacity - the larger a container, the more we pour into it, and perceptual - the same amount looks smaller in a larger container than a smaller one," she says. 
 
 "Given we often regulate our consumption in units such as one slice of cake or one cup of coffee, if we perceive we have not had a full glass of wine, this might lead to us having another glass." 
 
 Booze calculator: What's your drinking nationality? Find out how your drinking measures up to the average from countries around the world. 
 
 Prof Marteau and her team conducted experiments in three Cambridge bars to test the theory. 
 
 They increased glass sizes while leaving serving sizes the same. In two of the three bars, sales increased. 
 
 Image copyright ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM Image caption In the 1700s, you may have drunk your wine from an enamelled Jacobite portrait glass like this 
 
 While alcohol is the third leading risk factor for death and disability after smoking and obesity, according to Public Health England, levels of drinking have actually dropped in Britain. 
 
 A 2016 poll of nearly 8,000 Britons found that just under 60% had had a drink in the past week - the lowest rate since the survey began, in 2005. 
 
 Part of this could be down to a campaign to remove a billion units of alcohol from the market in various ways. 
 
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 However, there is a practical reason for serving wine in different size glasses - to affect its taste and quality. 
 
 Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, told the BBC: "Red wine, for example, is served in a larger glass to allow it to breathe, something which perhaps wasn't a priority 300 years ago. 
 
 "It is widely recognised that moderate and responsible consumption of alcohol is compatible with a healthy lifestyle." 
 
 Mr Beale added that in the past decade, "volume sales of wine in Britain have declined by 6%, and the volume of wine consumed per person has dropped 10%". 
 
 Image caption Seven standard 175ml glasses of wine is the weekly recommended limit 
 
 Rosanna O'Connor, director of alcohol and drugs at Public Health England, told the BBC: "It's important people understand how much alcohol is in what they drink, some glasses of wine can contain as many as three units. 
 
 "We recommend people try to follow the advice of the UK Chief Medical Officers and not to drink regularly more than 14 units a week."
– If you're a big fan of wine and would like to be surrounded by apparently like-minded people, consider moving to Vatican City. Despite its small size, or perhaps because of it, it manages to consume more wine per capita than any other country, according to the Wine Institute. How much exactly? At 74 liters of wine per person, double Italy's consumption, Religion News Service reports—and in terms of major countries, Italy is one of the top two wine consumers. That amount translates to about 105 bottles of wine per resident per year, the Independent notes. And no, this doesn't hinge around all that communion wine. As local media have pointed out, the number is probably so high because Vatican residents are, in general, older, male, and highly educated, and they eat communal meals. All of those factors tend to increase wine consumption. And with a population of just 800, those numbers are easily skewed by outliers. Oh yeah, and then there's the fact that just one store sells wine in the Vatican—and the wine is practically tax-free.