London, April 15:

The people of Britain are Europe’s top chocoholics, according to a survey published yesterday, which shows average consumption of 10kg a year, nearly five times the amount eaten by the more weight-conscious Italians.

The UK spent 4.3 billion pounds to chomp its way through 605,000 tonnes of chocolate last year and Britons ended up consuming a quarter of the continent’s entire chocolate supply.

The survey by the analysts Datamonitor was published as the nation prepared to indulge in the tradition of Easter eggs. It showed that the average spending on chocolate was 72 pounds a head in Britain last year, compared with 40 pounds in France, 31 pounds in Germany, 18 pounds in Italy and 12 pounds in Spain. Although the Italians spent more than the Spanish, they ate less, averaging 2.2-kg a year, compared with 3.9-kg in Spain, 6.8-kg in France and 8.1-kg in Germany.

The analysts said that over the next five years the UK chocolate market would reflect a consumer shift towards dark chocolate, in line with health concerns. While the ov-erall chocolate market was expected to show growth of six per cent between 2005 and 2010, dark chocolate sales, which now account for just three per cent of the market, would grow at ‘48 per cent’.