Easter for social scientists - find out more with our chocolate special!

Just for fun here are some interesting research related facts on Easter chocolate!

This infographic from Statista has some basic facts on who celebrates Easter and what they do. 84% gave Easter eggs as gifts in 2018

in another survey they found that 31% of those who responded bought specific brands but 30% were annoyed at how far in advance Easter eggs were sold!

How much do we spend on chocolate?

try ONS in an interesting survey of children (aged 7-15) spending habits On average, children aged between 7 and 15 years spent £12.40 a week. The data also show that almost half (48%) of all children spent money on confectionery, which includes chocolate, in a two-week period. However this was not the top category more was spent on soft drinks, toys and clothes. If you go to the website you can find out more!
In their average household spending surveys (table A11) they some data on expenditure by adults. in 2017/18 most was spent by those aged 30-49 with an average of 2.4 pounds per week on chocolate.

How big is the market for chocolate worldwide? Who are the biggest manufacturers?

To find out the largest manufacturers and the extent of the market get some free data from the International Cocoa Organisation. Free access to monthly pricing and reviews of the market for cocoa


The FAO produced this infographic in 2015 showing the largest exporters of cocoa products.
For more up to date data on exports of products see the FAOStat database


What are the health benefits?

just for today some positive reports!
Chocolate does improve a bad mood according to Macht & Mueller (2007) . However the effects only lasted for 3 minutes!
Does it improve cognitive function?- take a look at this systematic review of research on mode and brain function from 2013 and search Pubmed for other medical surveys.

finally
find out how it improved the mood of Samuel Pepys in this extract from 1661 diary.

"Waked in the morning with my head in a sad taking through the last night’s drink, which I am very sorry for; so rose and went out with Mr Creed to drink our morning draft, which he did give me in chocolate to settle my stomach."