The Most Popular Sweets in the World, by Country

Every country, culture and generation has their favourite sweet product or brand. We’ve already analysed the top retro sweets in the UK, and also the best old fashioned sweets in the UK too! So now we’ve looked to the rest of the World to find the top-selling sweets, candies and lollies in certain countries, and see what’s at the top of their lists!

We’re not just talking about tasty pick and mix sweets here. These are the top confectionary products — so that includes chocolate, sweets and even chewing gum too!

So, *drum roll please* — here are some of the most popular sweets in the World, by country.

Europe

The UK and Ireland: Cadbury Dairy Milk

An obvious winner of course. The royal purple packaging of Cadbury is practically a national colour in the UK. Did you know the first-ever Cadbury bar was created in 1904? Galaxy closely follows as the second favourite brand in both Ireland and the UK.

France: Kinder Bueno

Out of all the sweet treats available in France, chocolate was the most bought item in 2020! Kinder Bueno products came out in top as the favourite product in a recent 2020 survey.

The Netherlands: Drop (Liquorice!)

In 2020 as the pandemic escalated, chocolate and sweet sales in the Netherlands both increased by over 6%! Tony’s Chocolonely soon became the most popular chocolate brand. But liquorice has always been hugely popular in the Netherlands. While it is classed as a ‘candy’, drop usually has a salty and slightly bitter taste!

Ukraine: Roshen Chocolate

This delicious chocolate brand has over 300 tasty products including toffees, jelly sweets, wafers and cakes. Classic chocolate products include Milk Chocolate bars and Mont Blonc wrapped chocolates.

Finland: Fazer Blue Chocolate

With a recipe that has been in use since 1922, this tasty milk chocolate bar from brand Fazer is officially the top-selling confectionery in Finland!

Germany: Haribo

In 2020, the most popular sweet brand in Germany was Haribo; a German brand that was created in 1922. Another brand with signature purple packaging comes in as a close second. Smooth and creamy Milka chocolate is the second top-selling confectionery from Germany!

Africa

South Africa: Cadbury Lunch Bar

Another entry from Cadbury, the Lunch bar! With wafer biscuits, peanuts, caramel, rice puffs and plenty of Cadbury chocolate, the Lunch bar has been a favourite in South Africa for years!

North America

USA: M&M’s

Closely followed by the incredibly moreish peanut butter cups (owned by the Hershey Chocolate company), M&M’s are currently ranked as the top sweet in the US!

Canda: Nestlé

Nestlé currently dominates the confectionery market in Canada with several top chocolate bars including, Kit Kat, Aero, Coffee Crisp, Smarties and Big Turk. All of these tasty sweet treats top favourite confectionery lists in Canada!

Asia

Japan: Ramune Candy

Based on the incredibly popular Ramune soft drink, Ramune sweets are soda-flavoured sweets that are sold in packaging that resembles the unique shape of the glass bottle of the soft drink! The most popular Ramune sweets are made by Morinaga, but lots of brands create different versions of this classic sweet!

China: Dove Chocolate

The candy brand Hsu Fu Chi was consistently the top-selling sweet brand for a number of years, however the American chocolate brand ‘Dove’ now tops the chart! Their rise to the top has been credited to a marketing campaign that perfectly captures the ideals of Chinese culture, including gift-giving and the importance of family.

Oceania

Australia: Cadbury Dairy Milk (again!)

With a high number of British ex-pats, it’s not too much of a surprise that Cadbury tops the list again as Australia’s favourite chocolate bar.

New Zealand: Pascalls Lollies

With favourites like Milk Shakes, Pineapple Lumps and Fruit Bursts, Pascalls products frequently top lists of people’s favourite New Zealand sweet brands.

Featured Image: Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash