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18622	Alcohol Consumption	alcohol-consumption	page	publish	<!-- wp:html --> <div class="blog-info">This article was first published in April 2018. It was revised in January 2022.</div> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Alcohol has historically, and continues to, hold an important role in social engagement and bonding for many. Social drinking or moderate alcohol consumption for many is pleasurable.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>However, alcohol consumption – especially in excess – is linked to a number of negative outcomes: as a risk factor for diseases and health impacts; crime; road incidents; and for some, alcohol dependence. Globally alcohol consumption causes <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor">2.8 million premature deaths per year</a>.{ref}74% of those who die are younger than 70 years.{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This entry looks at the data on global patterns of alcohol consumption, patterns of drinking, beverage types, the prevalence of alcoholism; and consequences, including crime, mortality and road incidents.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Related entries:</strong><br>Data on other drug use can be found at our full entry <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Drug Use disorders are often classified within the same category as mental health disorders — research and data on mental health can be found at our entry <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Support for alcohol dependency</strong><br>At the end of this entry you will <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#further-resources-guidance">find additional resources</a> and guidance if you, or someone you know needs support in dealing with alcohol dependency.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Alcohol consumption across the world today</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This interactive map shows the annual average alcohol consumption of alcohol, expressed per person aged 15 years or older. To account for the differences in alcohol content of different alcoholic drinks (e.g. beer, wine, spirits), this is reported in liters of pure alcohol per year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The global average consumption was 6.17 liters per person in 2018.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>To make this average more understandable we can express it in bottles of wine. Wine contains around 12% of pure alcohol per volume{ref}Alcohol.org has <a href="https://www.alcohol.org/statistics-information/abv/">this overview</a> of the range of alcohol by volume of beer, wine, & liquor.{/ref} so that one liter of wine contains 0.12 liters of pure alcohol. The global average of 6.2 liters of pure alcohol per person per year therefore equals 53 bottles of wine per person older than 15. Or to make it more memorable, around 1 liter of wine per week.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As the map shows, the average per capita alcohol consumption varies widely across the world. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We see large geographical differences: Alcohol consumption across North Africa and the Middle East is particularly low — in many countries, close to zero. At the upper end of the scale, alcohol intake across Europe is highest at around 15 liters per person per year in Czechia. This equals around two bottles of wine per person per week.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Only slightly behind the Eastern European countries are Western European countries – including Germany, France, Portugal, Ireland, and Belgium – at around 12 to 14 liters.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-alcohol-consumption-per-capita-litres-of-pure-alcohol" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Share of adults who drink alcohol</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This interactive map shows the share of adults who drink alcohol. This is given as the share of adults, aged 15 years and older, who have drunk alcohol within the previous year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In many countries the majority of adults drink some alcohol. Across Europe, for example, more than two-thirds do in most countries.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Again, the prevalence of drinking across North Africa and the Middle East is notably lower than elsewhere. Typically 5 to 10 percent of adults across these regions drunk within the preceding year, and in a number of countries this was below 5 percent.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-adults-who-drank-alcohol-in-last-year" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Alcohol consumption by sex</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When we look at gender differences we see that in all countries men are more likely to drink than women. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This gender difference appears to be lowest in countries where the overall prevalence of drinking high. Where drinking prevalence is low-to-mid range, the prevalence of drinking in women tends to be significantly lower – often it is less than half the rate of men.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Data on the share who drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK is available <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-alcohol-last-week" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/males-vs-females-who-drank-alcohol-in-last-year" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Heavy drinking sessions</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Alcohol consumption – whilst a risk factor for a number of health outcomes – typically has the greatest negative impacts when consumed within heavy sessions. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This pattern of drinking is often termed 'binging', where individuals consume large amounts of alcohol within a single session versus small quantities more frequently. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Heavy episodic drinking is defined as the proportion of adult drinkers who have had at least 60 grams or more of pure alcohol on at least one occasion in the past 30 days. An intake of 60 grams of pure alcohol is approximately equal to 6 <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#what-is-a-standard-drink-measure" target="_blank">standard alcoholic drinks</a>. The map shows heavy drinkers – those who had an episode of heavy drinking in the previous 30 days – as a share of total drinkers (i.e those who have drunk less than one alcohol drink in the last 12 months are excluded).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The comparison of this map with the previous maps makes clear that heavy drinking is not necessarily most common in the same countries where alcohol consumption is most common.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Data on the prevalence of binge-drinking by age and gender in the UK can be found <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-drinkers-who-binged" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>; and trends in heavy and binge-drinking in the USA <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-drank-usa" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/drinkers-had-a-heavy-session-in-past-30-days" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Share of adults who don't drink alcohol</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Global trends on alcohol abstinence show a mirror image of drinking prevalence data. This is shown in the charts as the share of adults who had not drunk in the prior year, and those who have never drunk alcohol. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Here we see particularly high levels of alcohol abstinence across North Africa and the Middle East. In most countries in this region, more than 80 percent (often more than 90 percent) have never drunk alcohol.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-have-not-drank-alcohol-in-last-year" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-population-who-never-drink-alcohol" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Data on the share who don't drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK is available <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-dont-drink-alcohol" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Historical perspective on alcohol consumption</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Total alcohol consumption over the long-run</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The chart shows alcohol consumption since 1890 in a number of countries.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Across these high-income countries the annual average today lies between 5.6 liters in Japan and 10.4 liters in Austria.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A century ago some countries had much higher levels of alcohol consumption. In France in the 1920s the average was 22.1 liters of pure alcohol per person per year. This equals 184 one liter wine bottles per person per year.{ref}22.1 liters per person in France equals 22.1l / 0.12l = 184 bottles per year.{/ref} Note that in contrast to the modern statistics that are expressed in alcohol consumption per person older than 15 years, this includes children as well – the average alcohol consumption per adult was therefore even higher.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-alcohol-1890"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Alcohol consumption by type of alcoholic beverage</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This chart shows the change in consumption of alcoholic beverages. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>By default the data for Italy is shown – here the share of beer consumption increased and now makes up almost a quarter of alcohol consumption in Italy.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With the change country feature it is possible to view the same data for other countries. Sweden for example increased the share of wine consumption and therefore reduced the share of spirits.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-by-type-1890"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Alcohol consumption in the United States since 1850</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Long-run data on alcohol consumption from the United States gives us one perspective of drinking since 1850. In the chart we see the average consumption (in litres of ethanol) of different beverage types per person in the USA from 1850 through to 2013.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Over this long time period we see that per capita drinking quantities have been relatively constant — typically averaging around 8 to 9 litres per year. Over the period 1920-1933, there was a ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States (known as the 'National Alcohol Prohibition'). Since the statistics here reflect reported sales and consumption statistics, they assume zero consumption of alcohol over this time. However, there is evidence that alcohol consumption continued through black market and illegal sales, particularly in the sales of spirits. It's estimated that at the beginning of Prohibition alcohol consumption decreased to approximately 30 percent of pre-prohibition levels, but slowly increased to 60-70 percent by the end of the period.{ref}Miron & Zwiebel (1991). Alcohol Consumption During Prohibition. <em>The American Economic Review</em>, Vol. 81, No. 2, pp. 242-247, (May 1991). Available <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w3675" target="_blank">online</a>.{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>As we see, following prohibition, levels of alcohol consumption returned to the similar levels as in the pre-prohibition period.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-consumption-per-person-us" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Global beer consumption</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The charts show global consumption of beer, first in terms of beer as a share of total alcohol consumption, and then the estimated average consumption per person. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Beer contains around 5% of pure alcohol per volume{ref}Alcohol.org has <a href="https://www.alcohol.org/statistics-information/abv/">this overview</a> of the range of alcohol by volume of beer, wine, & liquor.{/ref} so that one liter of beer contains 0.05 liters of pure alcohol. This means that 5 liters of pure alcohol equals 100 liters of beer.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/beer-as-share-alcohol-consumption" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/beer-consumption-per-person" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Global wine consumption</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The charts show global consumption of wine, first in terms of wine as a share of total alcohol consumption, and then the estimated average consumption per person. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Wine contains around 12% of pure alcohol per volume so that one liter of wine contains 0.12 liters of pure alcohol.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wine-as-share-alcohol-consumption" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wine-consumption-per-person" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Global consumption of spirits</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The charts show global consumption of spirits, which are distilled alcoholic drinks including gin, rum, whisky, tequila and vodka. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The first map shows this in terms of spirits as a share of total alcohol consumption. In many Asian countries spirits account for most of total alcohol consumption. In India it is over 90%.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The second map shows the estimated average consumption per person. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/spirits-as-share-total-alcohol-consumption" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/spirits-consumption-per-person" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Expenditures on alcohol and alcohol consumption by income</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Alcohol consumption vs. income</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Does alcohol consumption increase as countries get richer? </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the chart we see the relationship between average per capita alcohol consumption – in litres of pure alcohol per year – versus gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, across countries.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When we look at national averages in this way there is not a distinct relationship between income and alcohol consumption. As shown by clusters of countries (for example, Middle Eastern countries with low alcohol intake but high GDP per capita), we tend to see strong cultural patterns which tend to alter the standard income-consumption relationship we may expect.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-consumption-vs-gdp-per-capita" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>However, when we looking at consumption data within given countries, we sometimes do see a clear income correlation. Taking 2016 data in the UK as an example we see that people within higher income brackets tend to drink more frequently. This correlation is also likely to be influenced by other lifestyle determinants and habits; the UK ONS also report that when grouped by education status, those with a university tend to drink more in total and more frequently than those of lower education status. There are also differences when grouped by profession: individuals in managerial or professional positions tend to drink more frequently than those in intermediate or manual labour roles.{ref}ONS (2018). Adult drinking habits in Great Britain. <em>UK Office of National Statistics</em>. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/drugusealcoholandsmoking/datasets/adultdrinkinghabits.{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-on-5-or-more-days-by-income" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>However, we also find correlates in drinking <em>patterns</em> when we look at groupings of income, education or work status. Although those in lower income or educational status groups often drink less overall, they are more likely to have lower-frequency, higher-intensity drinking patterns. Overall these groups drink less, but a higher percentage will drink heavily when they do.<br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Alcohol expenditure</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This interactive chart shows the average share of household expenditure that is spent on alcohol. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Data on alcohol expenditure is typically limited to North America, Europe and Oceania.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-expenditure-as-share-of-total" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Alcohol expenditure over the long-term</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This shows the expenditure on alcohol in the United States, differentiated by where the alcohol has been purchased and consumed.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-expenditure" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>The health impact of alcohol</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Alcohol is responsible for 2.8 million premature deaths each year</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Alcohol is one of the world's largest risk factors for premature death.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in its <em>Global Burden of Disease</em> study provide estimates of the number of deaths attributed to the range of risk factors.{ref}GBD 2017 Risk Factor Collaborators. "<a href="http://www.healthdata.org/research-article/global-regional-and-national-comparative-risk-assessment-84-behavioral-0">Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.</a>" (2018).{/ref} In the visualization we see the number of deaths per year attributed to each risk factor. This chart is shown for the global total, but can be explored for any country or region using the "change country" toggle.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Alcohol as a risk factor for mortality</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Alcohol consumption is a known <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#comparisons-of-risk-factors-of-death" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">risk factor</a> for a number of health conditions and potential mortality cases. Alcohol consumption has a causal impact on more than 200 health conditions (diseases and injuries).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the chart we see estimates of the alcohol-attributable fraction (AAF), which is the proportion of deaths which are caused or exacerbated by alcohol (i.e. that proportion which would disappear if alcohol consumption was removed). </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Across most countries the proportion of deaths attributed to alcohol consumption ranges from 2 to 10 percent. However, across a range of countries this share is much higher; across some countries in Eastern Europe nearly one-quarter of deaths are attributed to alcohol consumption.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-attributable-fraction-of-mortality" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Rate of premature deaths due to alcohol</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Shown here is the rate of premature deaths caused by alcohol.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Globally the rate has declined from 43 deaths per 100,000 people in the early 1990s to 35 deaths in 2017.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/rate-of-premature-deaths-due-to-alcohol"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Alcohol related deaths by age</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The chart shows the age distribution of those dying premature deaths due to alcohol.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Globally almost three quarters are younger than 70 years. 28% are younger than 50 years.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It is possible to switch this data to any other country or region in the world.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-attributed-to-alcohol-use-by-age"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Alcoholism and alcohol use disorders</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Alcohol use disorder</em> (AUD) refers to drinking of alcohol that causes mental and physical health problems. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Alcohol use disorder, which includes alcohol dependence, is defined the WHO's <em>International Classification of Diseases</em> (available <a href="https://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/bluebook.pdf">here</a>).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>At the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#further-reading-support" target="_blank">end of this entry</a> we provide a number of potential sources of support and guidance for those concerned about uncontrolled drinking or alcohol dependency.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A definite diagnosis of dependence should usually be made only if three or more of the following have been present together at some time during the previous year:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li>(a) a strong desire or sense of compulsion to take the substance;</li><li>(b) difficulties in controlling substance-taking behaviour in terms of its onset, termination, or levels of use;</li><li>(c) a physiological withdrawal state when substance use has ceased or been reduced, as evidenced by: the characteristic withdrawal syndrome for the substance; or use of the same (or a closely related) substance with the intention of relieving or avoiding withdrawal symptoms;</li><li>(d) evidence of tolerance, such that increased doses of the psychoactive substance are required in order to achieve effects originally produced by lower doses (clear examples of this are found in alcohol- and opiate-dependent individuals who may take daily doses sufficient to incapacitate or kill nontolerant users);</li><li>(e) progressive neglect of alternative pleasures or interests because of psychoactive substance use, increased amount of time necessary to obtain or take the substance or to recover from its effects;</li><li>(f) persisting with substance use despite clear evidence of overtly harmful consequences, such as harm to the liver through excessive drinking, depressive mood states consequent to periods of heavy substance use, or drug-related impairment of cognitive functioning; efforts should be made to determine that the user was actually, or could be expected to be, aware of the nature and extent of the harm.</li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The charts shown below present global data on the prevalence, disease burden and mortality cost of alcohol use disorders.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Prevalence of alcohol use disorders</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's estimated that globally around 1.4 percent of the population have an alcohol use disorder. At the country level, as shown in the chart, this ranges from around 0.5 to 5 percent of the population. In Russia, for example, the prevalence is 4.7 percent meaning that almost 1-in-20 have an alcohol dependence at any given time.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When we look at the variance in prevalence <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-alcohol-use-disorders-by-age" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">across age groups</a> we see that globally the prevalence is highest in those aged between 25 and 34 years old (for which around 2.5 percent of the population have an alcohol use disorder). At the extreme of country-level figures, prevalence amongst Russians aged 30-34 years old is just under 10 percent. This means 1-in-10 Russians in this age group has an alcohol dependency.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Globally, <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-with-alcohol-use-disorders-country" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">107 million</a> people are estimated to have an alcohol use disorder. This breakdown can be viewed by gender for any country <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-with-alcohol-use-disorders" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>; 70 percent globally (75 million) were male relative to 32 million females.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-suffering-from-alcohol-use-disorders" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-alcohol-disorders-males-vs-females" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The scatter plot compares the prevalence of alcohol use disorders in males versus that of females. In 2017 — with the exception of Ukraine — the prevalence of alcohol dependence in men was higher than in women across all countries.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Deaths from alcohol use disorders</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Deaths from alcohol dependence can occur both directly or indirectly. Indirect deaths from alcohol use disorders can occur indirectly through suicide. In our entry on <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#link-between-mental-health-and-suicide" target="_blank">Mental Health</a>, we discuss the link between mental health and substance use disorders with suicide. Although clear attribution of suicide deaths is challenging, alcohol use disorders are a known and established risk factor. It's estimated that the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#mental-health-as-a-risk-factor-for-suicide" target="_blank">relative risk of suicide</a> in an individual with alcohol dependence is around 10 times higher than an individual without.{ref}Ferrari et al. (2015). The Burden Attributable to Mental and Substance Use Disorders as Risk Factors for Suicide: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. <em>PLOS ONE</em>. Available <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0091936#s1">online</a>.{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The chart shows direct death rates (not including suicide deaths) from alcohol use disorders across the world. In 2019, Belarus had the highest death rate with around 21 people per 100,000 individuals dying from alcoholism. For most countries this rate ranges from 1 to 5 deaths per 100,000 individuals.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rates-from-alcohol-use-disorders" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It's estimated that globally, around 168,000 people died directly from alcohol use disorders in 2019. The total estimated number of deaths by country from 1990 to 2019 are found <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-alcohol-use-disorders" target="_blank">here</a>.<br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Alcohol use disorder treatment</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Global data on the prevalence and effectiveness of alcohol use disorder treatment is very incomplete. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the chart we see data across some countries on the share of people with an alcohol use disorder who received treatment. This data is based on estimates of prevalence and treatment published by the World Health Organization (WHO).</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-with-alcohol-use-disorders-receiving-treatment" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Alcohol use disorder vs. average alcohol intake</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Do countries with higher average alcohol consumption have a higher prevalence of alcohol use disorders? </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the chart we see prevalence of alcohol dependence versus the average per capita alcohol consumption. Overall there is not a clear relationship between the two, although there may be a slight positive correlation, particularly when viewed by region (e.g. in Europe). There is not, however, clear evidence that high overall consumption (particularly in moderate quantities) is connected to the onset of alcohol dependency.<br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-with-alcohol-use-disorder-vs-alcohol-consumption" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>The disease burden from alcohol use disorders</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Measuring the health impact by mortality alone fails to capture the impact that alcohol use disorders have on an individual's wellbeing. The '<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/burden-of-disease">disease burden</a>' – measured in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) – is a considers not only mortality, but also years lived with disability or health burden. The map shows DALYs per 100,000 people which result from alcohol use disorders.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>DALY rates differentiated by age group can be found <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/dalys-from-alcohol-use-disorders-by-age">here</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-disorders-dalys-age-standardized-rate" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Risk factors for alcohol use disorders</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Many of the risk factors for alcohol dependency are similar to those of overall substance use disorders (including illicit drug disorders). Further discussion on these risk factors can be found at our entry on <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use#risk-factors-for-substance-use-disorders" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Substance Use</a>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Mental health disorders as a risk factor for alcohol dependency</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the chart we show results from a study conducted published by Swendsen et al. (2010).{ref}Swendsen, J., Conway, K. P., Degenhardt, L., Glantz, M., Jin, R., Merikangas, K. R., … & Kessler, R. C. (2010). Mental disorders as risk factors for substance use, abuse and dependence: results from the 10‐year follow‐up of the National Comorbidity Survey. <em>Addiction</em>, <em>105</em>(6), 1117-1128. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.02902.x{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> In this study the authors followed a cohort of more than 5000 individuals, with and without a <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health" target="_blank">mental health</a> disorder (but without a substance use disorder) over a 10-year period. Following the 10 year period they re-assessed such individuals for whether they had either a nicotine, alcohol or illicit drug dependency.{ref}Full data with confidence intervals and statistical significance can be found at our table <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health-disorders-as-risk-for-substance-use">here</a>.{/ref}</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/mental-health-as-risk-for-alcohol-dependency" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The results in the chart show the increased risk of developing alcohol dependency (we show results for illicit drug dependency in our entry on <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use#mental-health-disorders-as-a-risk-factor-for-substance-dependency" target="_blank">Substance Use</a>) for someone with a given mental health disorder (relative to those without). For example, a value of 3.6 for bipolar disorder indicates that illicit drug dependency became more than three time more likely in individuals with bipolar disorder than those without. The risk of an alcohol use disorder is highest in individuals with intermittent explosive disorder, dysthymia, ODD, bipolar disorder and social phobia.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Alcohol, crime, and road deaths</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Alcohol-related road traffic deaths</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The map shows the share of all road traffic deaths attributed to alcohol consumption over the national legal limit for alcohol consumption.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In South Africa and Papua New Guinea more than half of all traffic deaths are attributable to alcohol consumption.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and many European countries alcohol is responsible for around a third of all traffic deaths.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the countries shown in light yellow over 90% of road deaths are not related to alcohol consumption.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/road-traffic-deaths-to-alcohol" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Alcohol-related crime</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Shown in this map is the share of all crimes which are considered to be alcohol-related.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This includes two groups of criminal offenses: </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} --> <ol><li>Offenses in which the alcohol consumption is part of the crime such as driving with excess alcohol, liquor license violations, and drunkenness offenses.</li><li>Crimes in which the consumption of alcohol is thought to have played a role of some kind in the committing of the offense – including assault, criminal damage, and other public order offenses.</li></ol> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The differences between countries are large: in some countries – including Iran, Chile, and Scandinavian countries – the share is well below 5%. In the UK on the other hand it is over 50%.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-related-crimes-of-all-crimes" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Definitions and Measurement</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>What is a standard drink measure?</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Whilst the World Health Organization (WHO) and most national guidelines typically quantify one unit of alcohol as equal to 10 grams of pure alcohol, the metric used as a 'standard measure' can vary across countries. Most countries across Europe use this 10 grams metric, however this can vary with several adopting 12 or 14 grams per unit.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In North America, a unit is typically taken as 14 grams of pure alcohol. In Japan, this is as high as 20 grams per unit.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:html --> <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/standard-drink-measure" width="300" height="150"></iframe> <!-- /wp:html --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Data Sources</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Institute of Health Metrics & Evaluation (IHME), Global Burden of Disease (GBD)</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li><strong>Data</strong>: Deaths, DALYs and prevalence of substance use disorders, by age and sex</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage: </strong>Global by country and region</li><li><strong>Time span: </strong>since 1990</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool" target="_blank">http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool</a> </li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>World Health Organization (WHO) International Classification of Diseases (ICD)</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>World Health Organization. (1992). <i>The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders: clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines</i> (Vol. 1). World Health Organization.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li> <strong>Data</strong>: Definitions and classifications of mental and substance use disorders</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/bluebook.pdf" target="_blank">ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders</a> </li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Observatory (GHO)</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li> <strong>Data</strong>: Prevalence of substance use disorders, trends in alcohol consumption</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage: </strong>Global by country</li><li><strong>Time span: </strong>Variable depending on datasets. Most inconsistent years post-2000</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel="noopener" href="http://www.who.int/gho/en/">http://www.who.int/gho/en/</a> </li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Further Resources & Guidance</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Alcohol Rehab Guide</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li> <strong>Information</strong>: Guidance on the signs of alcoholism, unhealthy drinking behaviors, and support on where to go for help</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong> Universal guidance; support options for the United States</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/support/" target="_blank">https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/support/</a> </li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Hello Sunday Morning</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li> <strong>Information</strong>: A social movement with the aim to reduce stigma around alcohol and to encourages people to consider their relationship with alcohol.</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a href="https://www.hellosundaymorning.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HelloSundayMorning.org</a></li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Drink Aware</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li> <strong>Information</strong>: List and contact details of a range of places for support on alcohol issues</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong> United Kingdom</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-support-services/" target="_blank">https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-support-services/</a> </li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Alcohol Help Center</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li> <strong>Information</strong>: Free guidance, support and discussion groups on concerns related to alcohol</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong>  Global</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.alcoholhelpcenter.net/" target="_blank">http://www.alcoholhelpcenter.net/</a> </li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Rethinking Drinking</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li><strong>Information</strong>: Test to assess your drinking patterns relative to the US population</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong>  Global; assesses relative to US drinking patterns</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.rethinkingdrinking.niaaa.nih.gov/How-much-is-too-much/Is-your-drinking-pattern-risky/Whats-Your-Pattern.aspx" target="_blank">What's your drinking pattern?</a> </li></ul> <!-- /wp:list --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Rehab 4 Addiction</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:list --> <ul><li><strong>Information</strong>: An advisory and referral service for people who suffer from alcohol, drug, and behavioral addiction.</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong>  Universal guidance; support options for the United Kingdom</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong><a href="https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/</a> </li></ul> <!-- /wp:list -->	{ "id": "wp-18622", "slug": "alcohol-consumption", "content": { "toc": [], "body": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "This article was first published in April 2018. It was revised in January 2022.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Alcohol has historically, and continues to, hold an important role in social engagement and bonding for many. Social drinking or moderate alcohol consumption for many is pleasurable.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "However, alcohol consumption \u2013 especially in excess \u2013 is linked to a number of negative outcomes: as a risk factor for diseases and health impacts; crime; road incidents; and for some, alcohol dependence. Globally alcohol consumption causes ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor", "children": [ { "text": "2.8 million premature deaths per year", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".{ref}74% of those who die are younger than 70 years.{/ref}", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "This entry looks at the data on global patterns of alcohol consumption, patterns of drinking, beverage types, the prevalence of alcoholism; and consequences, including crime, mortality and road incidents.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "text": "Related entries:", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" }, { "spanType": "span-newline" }, { "text": "Data on other drug use can be found at our full entry ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use", "children": [ { "text": "here", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Drug Use disorders are often classified within the same category as mental health disorders \u2014 research and data on mental health can be found at our entry ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health", "children": [ { "text": "here", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "text": "Support for alcohol dependency", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" }, { "spanType": "span-newline" }, { "text": "At the end of this entry you will ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#further-resources-guidance", "children": [ { "text": "find additional resources", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " and guidance if you, or someone you know needs support in dealing with alcohol dependency.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "url": "#all-charts", "children": [ { "text": "See all interactive charts on alcohol consumption \u2193", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" } ], "spanType": "span-bold" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "horizontal-rule", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Alcohol consumption across the world today", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 1, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "horizontal-rule", "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "This interactive map shows the annual average alcohol consumption of alcohol, expressed per person aged 15 years or older. 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The global average of 6.2 liters of pure alcohol per person per year therefore equals 53 bottles of wine per person older than 15. Or to make it more memorable, around 1 liter of wine per week.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "As the map shows, the average per capita alcohol consumption varies widely across the world. ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "We see large geographical differences: Alcohol consumption across North Africa and the Middle East is particularly low\u00a0\u2014 in many countries, close to zero. At the upper end of the scale, alcohol intake across Europe is highest at around 15 liters per person per year in Czechia. This equals around two bottles of wine per person per week.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Only slightly behind the Eastern European countries are Western European countries \u2013 including Germany, France, Portugal, Ireland, and Belgium \u2013 at around 12 to 14 liters.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-alcohol-consumption-per-capita-litres-of-pure-alcohol", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Share of adults who drink alcohol", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "This interactive map shows the share of adults who drink alcohol. 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", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "This pattern of drinking is often termed 'binging', where individuals consume large amounts of alcohol within a single session versus small quantities more frequently. ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Heavy episodic drinking is defined as the proportion of adult drinkers who have had at least 60 grams or more of pure alcohol on at least one occasion in the past 30 days. An intake of 60 grams of pure alcohol is approximately equal to 6 ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#what-is-a-standard-drink-measure", "children": [ { "text": "standard alcoholic drinks", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ". The map shows heavy drinkers \u2013 those who had an episode of heavy drinking in the previous 30 days \u2013 as a share of total drinkers (i.e those who have drunk less than one alcohol drink in the last 12 months are excluded).", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The comparison of this map with the previous maps makes clear that heavy drinking is not necessarily most common in the same countries where alcohol consumption is most common.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Data on the prevalence of binge-drinking by age and gender in the UK can be found ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-drinkers-who-binged", "children": [ { "text": "here", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": "; and trends in heavy and binge-drinking in the USA ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-drank-usa", "children": [ { "text": "here", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/drinkers-had-a-heavy-session-in-past-30-days", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Share of adults who don't drink alcohol", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Global trends on alcohol abstinence show a mirror image of drinking prevalence data. This is shown in the charts as the share of adults who had not drunk in the prior year, and those who have never drunk alcohol. ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Here we see particularly high levels of alcohol abstinence across North Africa and the Middle East. In most countries in this region, more than 80 percent (often more than 90 percent) have never drunk alcohol.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-have-not-drank-alcohol-in-last-year", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-population-who-never-drink-alcohol", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Data on the share who don't drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK is available ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-dont-drink-alcohol", "children": [ { "text": "here", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "horizontal-rule", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Historical perspective on alcohol consumption", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 1, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "horizontal-rule", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Total alcohol consumption over the long-run", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The chart shows alcohol consumption since 1890 in a number of countries.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Across these high-income countries the annual average today lies between 5.6 liters in Japan and 10.4 liters in Austria.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "A century ago some countries had much higher levels of alcohol consumption. In France in the 1920s the average was 22.1 liters of pure alcohol per person per year. This equals 184 one liter wine bottles per person per year.{ref}22.1 liters per person in France equals 22.1l / 0.12l = 184 bottles per year.{/ref} Note that in contrast to the modern statistics that are expressed in alcohol consumption per person older than 15 years, this includes children as well \u2013 the average alcohol consumption per adult was therefore even higher.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-alcohol-1890", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Alcohol consumption by type of alcoholic beverage", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "This chart shows the change in consumption of alcoholic beverages. ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "By default the data for Italy is shown \u2013 here the share of beer consumption increased and now makes up almost a quarter of alcohol consumption in Italy.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "With the change country feature it is possible to view the same data for other countries. Sweden for example increased the share of wine consumption and therefore reduced the share of spirits.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-by-type-1890", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Alcohol consumption in the United States since 1850", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Long-run data on alcohol consumption from the United States gives us one perspective of drinking since 1850. In the chart we see the average consumption (in litres of ethanol) of different beverage types per person in the USA from 1850 through to 2013.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Over this long time period we see that per capita drinking quantities have been relatively constant\u00a0\u2014 typically averaging around 8 to 9 litres per year. Over the period 1920-1933,\u00a0there was a ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States (known as the 'National Alcohol Prohibition'). Since the statistics here reflect reported sales and consumption statistics, they assume zero consumption of alcohol over this time. However, there is evidence that alcohol consumption continued through black market and illegal sales, particularly in the sales of spirits. It's estimated that at the beginning of Prohibition alcohol consumption decreased to approximately 30 percent of pre-prohibition levels, but slowly increased to 60-70 percent by the end of the period.{ref}Miron & Zwiebel (1991).\u00a0Alcohol Consumption During Prohibition.\u00a0", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "The\u00a0American Economic Review", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": ", Vol. 81, No. 2, pp. 242-247, (May 1991). Available ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "http://www.nber.org/papers/w3675", "children": [ { "text": "online", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".{/ref}", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "As we see, following prohibition, levels of alcohol consumption returned to the similar levels as in the pre-prohibition period.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-consumption-per-person-us", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Global beer consumption", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 2, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The charts show global consumption of beer, first in terms of beer as a share of total alcohol consumption, and then the estimated average consumption per person. ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Beer contains around 5% of pure alcohol per volume{ref}Alcohol.org has ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://www.alcohol.org/statistics-information/abv/", "children": [ { "text": "this overview", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " of the range of alcohol by volume of beer, wine, & liquor.{/ref} so that one liter of beer contains 0.05 liters of pure alcohol. This means that 5 liters of pure alcohol equals 100 liters of beer.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/beer-as-share-alcohol-consumption", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/beer-consumption-per-person", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Global wine consumption", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 2, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The charts show global consumption of wine, first in terms of wine as a share of total alcohol consumption, and then the estimated average consumption per person. ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Wine contains around 12% of pure alcohol per volume so that one liter of wine contains 0.12 liters of pure alcohol.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wine-as-share-alcohol-consumption", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wine-consumption-per-person", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Global consumption of spirits", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 2, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The charts show global consumption of spirits, which are distilled alcoholic drinks including gin, rum, whisky, tequila and vodka. ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The first map shows this in terms of spirits as a share of total alcohol consumption. In many Asian countries spirits account for most of total alcohol consumption. In India it is over 90%.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The second map shows the estimated average consumption per person. ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/spirits-as-share-total-alcohol-consumption", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/spirits-consumption-per-person", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "horizontal-rule", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Expenditures on alcohol and alcohol consumption by income", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 1, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "horizontal-rule", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Alcohol consumption vs. income", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 2, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Does alcohol consumption increase as countries get richer? ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In the chart we see the relationship between average per capita alcohol consumption \u2013 in litres of pure alcohol per year \u2013 versus gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, across countries.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "When we look at national averages in this way there is not a distinct relationship between income and alcohol consumption. As shown by clusters of countries (for example, Middle Eastern countries with low alcohol intake but high GDP per capita), we tend to see strong cultural patterns which tend to alter the standard income-consumption relationship we may expect.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-consumption-vs-gdp-per-capita", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "However, when we looking at consumption data within given countries, we sometimes do see a clear income correlation. Taking 2016 data in the UK as an example we see that people within higher income brackets tend to drink more frequently. This correlation is also likely to be influenced by other lifestyle determinants and habits; the UK ONS also report that when grouped by education status, those with a university tend to drink more in total and more frequently than those of lower education status. There are also differences when grouped by profession: individuals in managerial or professional positions tend to drink more frequently than those in intermediate or manual labour roles.{ref}ONS (2018). Adult drinking habits in Great Britain. ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "UK Office of National Statistics", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": ". Available at:\u00a0https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/drugusealcoholandsmoking/datasets/adultdrinkinghabits.{/ref}", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-on-5-or-more-days-by-income", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "However, we also find correlates in drinking\u00a0", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "patterns", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": " when we look at groupings of income, education or work status. Although those in lower income or educational status groups often drink less overall, they are more likely to have lower-frequency, higher-intensity drinking patterns. Overall these groups drink less, but a higher percentage will drink heavily when they do.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "spanType": "span-newline" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Alcohol expenditure", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 2, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "This interactive chart shows the average share of household expenditure that is spent on alcohol. ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Data on alcohol expenditure is typically limited to North America, Europe and Oceania.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-expenditure-as-share-of-total", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Alcohol expenditure over the long-term", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "This shows the expenditure on alcohol in the United States, differentiated by where the alcohol has been purchased and consumed.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-expenditure", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "horizontal-rule", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "The health impact of alcohol", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 1, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "horizontal-rule", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Alcohol is responsible for 2.8 million premature deaths each year", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 2, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Alcohol is one of the world's largest risk factors for premature death.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in its ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "Global Burden of Disease", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": " study provide estimates of the number of deaths attributed to the range of risk factors.{ref}GBD 2017 Risk Factor Collaborators. \"", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "http://www.healthdata.org/research-article/global-regional-and-national-comparative-risk-assessment-84-behavioral-0", "children": [ { "text": "Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": "\" (2018).{/ref} In the visualization we see the number of deaths per year attributed to each risk factor. This chart is shown for the global total, but can be explored for any country or region using the \"change country\" toggle.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Alcohol as a risk factor for mortality", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 2, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Alcohol consumption is a known ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#comparisons-of-risk-factors-of-death", "children": [ { "text": "risk factor", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " for a number of health conditions and potential mortality cases.\u00a0Alcohol consumption has a causal impact on more than 200 health conditions (diseases and injuries).", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In the chart we see estimates of the alcohol-attributable fraction (AAF), which is the proportion of deaths which are caused or exacerbated by alcohol (i.e. that proportion which would disappear if alcohol consumption was removed). ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Across most countries the proportion of deaths attributed to alcohol consumption ranges from 2 to 10 percent. However, across a range of countries this share is much higher; across some countries in Eastern Europe nearly one-quarter of deaths are attributed to alcohol consumption.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-attributable-fraction-of-mortality", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Rate of premature deaths due to alcohol", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Shown here is the rate of premature deaths caused by alcohol.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Globally the rate has declined from 43 deaths per 100,000 people in the early 1990s to 35 deaths in 2017.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/rate-of-premature-deaths-due-to-alcohol", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Alcohol related deaths by age", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The chart shows the age distribution of those dying premature deaths due to alcohol.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Globally almost three quarters are younger than 70 years. 28% are younger than 50 years.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "It is possible to switch this data to any other country or region in the world.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-attributed-to-alcohol-use-by-age", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Alcoholism and alcohol use disorders", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 2, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "children": [ { "text": "Alcohol use disorder", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": "\u00a0(AUD) refers to drinking of alcohol\u00a0that causes mental and physical health problems.\u00a0", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Alcohol use disorder, which includes alcohol dependence, is defined the WHO's ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "International Classification of Diseases", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": " (available ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/bluebook.pdf", "children": [ { "text": "here", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ").", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "At the ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#further-reading-support", "children": [ { "text": "end of this entry", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " we provide a number of potential sources of support and guidance for those concerned about uncontrolled drinking or alcohol dependency.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "A definite diagnosis of dependence should usually be made only if three or more of the following have been present together at some time during the previous year:", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "list", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "(a) a strong desire or sense of compulsion to take the substance;", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "(b) difficulties in controlling substance-taking behaviour in terms of its onset, termination, or levels of use;", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "(c) a physiological withdrawal state when substance use has ceased or been reduced, as evidenced by: the characteristic withdrawal syndrome for the substance; or use of the same (or a closely related) substance with the intention of relieving or avoiding withdrawal symptoms;", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "(d) evidence of tolerance, such that increased doses of the psychoactive substance are required in order to achieve effects originally produced by lower doses (clear examples of this are found in alcohol- and opiate-dependent individuals who may take daily doses sufficient to incapacitate or kill nontolerant users);", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "(e) progressive neglect of alternative pleasures or interests because of psychoactive substance use, increased amount of time necessary to obtain or take the substance or to recover from its effects;", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "(f) persisting with substance use despite clear evidence of overtly harmful consequences, such as harm to the liver through excessive drinking, depressive mood states consequent to periods of heavy substance use, or drug-related impairment of cognitive functioning; efforts should be made to determine that the user was actually, or could be expected to be, aware of the nature and extent of the harm.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The charts shown below present global data on the prevalence, disease burden and mortality cost of alcohol use disorders.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Prevalence of alcohol use disorders", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "It's estimated that globally around 1.4 percent of the population have an alcohol use disorder. At the country level, as shown in the chart, this ranges from around 0.5 to 5 percent of the population. In Russia, for example, the prevalence is 4.7 percent meaning that almost 1-in-20 have an alcohol dependence at any given time.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "When we look at the variance in prevalence ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-alcohol-use-disorders-by-age", "children": [ { "text": "across age groups", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": "\u00a0we see that globally the prevalence is highest in those aged between 25 and 34 years old (for which around 2.5 percent of the population have an alcohol use disorder). At the extreme of country-level figures, prevalence amongst Russians aged 30-34 years old is just under 10 percent. This means 1-in-10 Russians in this age group has an alcohol dependency.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Globally, ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-with-alcohol-use-disorders-country", "children": [ { "text": "107 million", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " people are estimated to have an alcohol use disorder. This breakdown can be viewed by gender for any country ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-with-alcohol-use-disorders", "children": [ { "text": "here", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": "; 70 percent globally (75 million) were male relative to 32 million females.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-suffering-from-alcohol-use-disorders", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-alcohol-disorders-males-vs-females", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The scatter plot compares the prevalence of alcohol use disorders in males versus that of females. In 2017 \u2014 with the exception of Ukraine \u2014 the prevalence of alcohol dependence in men was higher than in women across all countries.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Deaths from alcohol use disorders", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Deaths from alcohol dependence can occur both directly or indirectly. Indirect deaths from alcohol use disorders can occur indirectly through suicide. In our entry on ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#link-between-mental-health-and-suicide", "children": [ { "text": "Mental Health", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ", we discuss the link between mental health and substance use disorders with suicide. Although clear attribution of suicide deaths is challenging, alcohol use disorders are a known and established risk factor. It's estimated that the ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#mental-health-as-a-risk-factor-for-suicide", "children": [ { "text": "relative risk of suicide", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " in an individual with alcohol dependence is around 10 times higher than an individual without.{ref}Ferrari et al. (2015). The Burden Attributable to Mental and Substance Use Disorders as Risk Factors for Suicide: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010.\u00a0", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "PLOS ONE", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": ". Available\u00a0", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0091936#s1", "children": [ { "text": "online", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".{/ref}", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The chart shows direct death rates (not including suicide deaths) from alcohol use disorders across the world. In 2019, Belarus had the highest death rate with around 21 people per 100,000 individuals dying from alcoholism. For most countries this rate ranges from 1 to 5 deaths per 100,000 individuals.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rates-from-alcohol-use-disorders", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "It's estimated that globally, around 168,000 people died directly from alcohol use disorders in 2019. The total estimated number of deaths by country from 1990 to 2019 are found ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-alcohol-use-disorders", "children": [ { "text": "here", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "spanType": "span-newline" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Alcohol use disorder treatment", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Global data on the prevalence and effectiveness of alcohol use disorder treatment is very incomplete. ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In the chart we see data across some countries on the share of people with an alcohol use disorder who received treatment. This data is based on estimates of prevalence and treatment published by the World Health Organization (WHO).", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-with-alcohol-use-disorders-receiving-treatment", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Alcohol use disorder vs. average alcohol intake", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Do countries with higher average alcohol consumption have a higher prevalence of alcohol use disorders? ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In the chart we see prevalence of alcohol dependence versus the average per capita alcohol consumption. Overall there is not a clear relationship between the two, although there may be a slight positive correlation, particularly when viewed by region (e.g. in Europe). There is not, however, clear evidence that high overall consumption (particularly in moderate quantities) is connected to the onset of alcohol dependency.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "spanType": "span-newline" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-with-alcohol-use-disorder-vs-alcohol-consumption", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "The disease burden from alcohol use disorders", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 2, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Measuring the health impact by mortality alone fails to capture the impact that alcohol use disorders have on an individual's wellbeing. The '", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/burden-of-disease", "children": [ { "text": "disease burden", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": "' \u2013 measured in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) \u2013 is a considers not only mortality, but also years lived with disability or health burden. The map shows DALYs per 100,000 people which result from alcohol use disorders.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "DALY rates differentiated by age group can be found ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/dalys-from-alcohol-use-disorders-by-age", "children": [ { "text": "here", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-disorders-dalys-age-standardized-rate", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Risk factors for alcohol use disorders", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 2, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Many of the risk factors for alcohol dependency are similar to those of overall substance use disorders (including illicit drug disorders). Further discussion on these risk factors can be found at our entry on ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use#risk-factors-for-substance-use-disorders", "children": [ { "text": "Substance Use", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Mental health disorders as a risk factor for alcohol dependency", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 3, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In the chart we show results from a study conducted published by Swendsen et al. (2010).{ref}Swendsen, J., Conway, K. P., Degenhardt, L., Glantz, M., Jin, R., Merikangas, K. R., \u2026 & Kessler, R. C. (2010). Mental disorders as risk factors for substance use, abuse and dependence: results from the 10\u2010year follow\u2010up of the National Comorbidity Survey.\u00a0", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "Addiction", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": ",\u00a0", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "children": [ { "text": "105", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-italic" }, { "text": "(6), 1117-1128. Available at:\u00a0https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.02902.x{/ref}", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": " In this study the authors followed a cohort of more than 5000 individuals, with and without a ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health", "children": [ { "text": "mental health", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": " disorder (but without a substance use disorder) over a 10-year period. Following the 10 year period they re-assessed such individuals for whether they had either a nicotine, alcohol or illicit drug dependency.{ref}Full data with confidence intervals and statistical significance can be found at our table ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health-disorders-as-risk-for-substance-use", "children": [ { "text": "here", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ".{/ref}", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/mental-health-as-risk-for-alcohol-dependency", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The results in the chart show the increased risk of developing alcohol dependency (we show results for illicit drug dependency in our entry on ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use#mental-health-disorders-as-a-risk-factor-for-substance-dependency", "children": [ { "text": "Substance Use", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "spanType": "span-link" }, { "text": ") for someone with a given mental health disorder (relative to those without). For example, a value of 3.6 for bipolar disorder indicates that illicit drug dependency became more than three time more likely in individuals with bipolar disorder than those without. The risk of an alcohol use disorder is highest in individuals with intermittent explosive disorder, dysthymia, ODD, bipolar disorder and social phobia.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "horizontal-rule", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Alcohol, crime, and road deaths", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 1, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "horizontal-rule", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Alcohol-related road traffic deaths", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 2, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The map shows the share of all road traffic deaths attributed to alcohol consumption over the national legal limit for alcohol consumption.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In South Africa and Papua New Guinea more than half of all traffic deaths are attributable to alcohol consumption.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and many European countries alcohol is responsible for around a third of all traffic deaths.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "In the countries shown in light yellow over 90% of road deaths are not related to alcohol consumption.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/road-traffic-deaths-to-alcohol", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Alcohol-related crime", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 2, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Shown in this map is the share of all crimes which are considered to be alcohol-related.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "This includes two groups of criminal offenses: ", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "numbered-list", "items": [ { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Offenses in which the alcohol consumption is part of the crime such as driving with excess alcohol, liquor license violations, and drunkenness offenses.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Crimes in which the consumption of alcohol is thought to have played a role of some kind in the committing of the offense \u2013 including assault, criminal damage, and other public order offenses.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "The differences between countries are large: in some countries \u2013\u00a0including Iran, Chile, and Scandinavian countries \u2013 the share is well below 5%. In the UK on the other hand it is over 50%.", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "parseErrors": [] }, { "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-related-crimes-of-all-crimes", "type": "chart", "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "horizontal-rule", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "Definitions and Measurement", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 1, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "horizontal-rule", "parseErrors": [] }, { "text": [ { "text": "What is a standard drink measure?", "spanType": "span-simple-text" } ], "type": "heading", "level": 2, "parseErrors": [] }, { "type": "text", "value": [ { "text": "Whilst the World Health Organization (WHO) and most national guidelines typically quantify one unit of alcohol as equal to 10 grams of pure alcohol, the metric used as a 'standard measure' can vary across countries. 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How has consumption changed over time? And what are the health impacts?", "dateline": "April 16, 2018", "subtitle": "Who consumes the most alcohol? How has consumption changed over time? And what are the health impacts?", "sticky-nav": [], "sidebar-toc": true, "featured-image": "total-alcohol-consumption-per-capita-litres-of-pure-alcohol-3.png" }, "createdAt": "2019-11-13T10:19:41.000Z", "published": false, "updatedAt": "2023-11-01T08:53:00.000Z", "revisionId": null, "publishedAt": "2018-04-16T20:06:41.000Z", "relatedCharts": [ { "slug": "alcohol-drug-use-disorders-share-total-disease", "title": "Alcohol and drug use disorders as a share of total disease burden", "variantName": null, "keyChartLevel": 2 }, { "slug": "death-rates-substance-disorders", "title": "Alcohol and drug use disorders death rate", "variantName": "IHME", "keyChartLevel": 2 }, { "slug": "death-rates-substance-disorders-who", "title": "Alcohol and drug use disorders death rate", "variantName": "WHO", "keyChartLevel": 2 }, { "slug": "death-rates-alcohol-drug-overdoses-by-age-who", "title": "Alcohol and drug use disorders death rate by age", "variantName": null, "keyChartLevel": 2 }, { "slug": 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10, "div": 1, "iframe": 33 } }	2018-04-16 20:06:41	2024-03-19 18:38:16		[ "Hannah Ritchie" ]	Who consumes the most alcohol? How has consumption changed over time? And what are the health impacts?	2019-11-13 10:19:41	2023-11-01 08:53:00	https://ourworldindata.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/total-alcohol-consumption-per-capita-litres-of-pure-alcohol-3.png	{}	This article was first published in April 2018. It was revised in January 2022. Alcohol has historically, and continues to, hold an important role in social engagement and bonding for many. Social drinking or moderate alcohol consumption for many is pleasurable. However, alcohol consumption – especially in excess – is linked to a number of negative outcomes: as a risk factor for diseases and health impacts; crime; road incidents; and for some, alcohol dependence. Globally alcohol consumption causes [2.8 million premature deaths per year](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor).{ref}74% of those who die are younger than 70 years.{/ref} This entry looks at the data on global patterns of alcohol consumption, patterns of drinking, beverage types, the prevalence of alcoholism; and consequences, including crime, mortality and road incidents. Related entries: Data on other drug use can be found at our full entry [here](https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use). Drug Use disorders are often classified within the same category as mental health disorders — research and data on mental health can be found at our entry [here](https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health). Support for alcohol dependency At the end of this entry you will [find additional resources](https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#further-resources-guidance) and guidance if you, or someone you know needs support in dealing with alcohol dependency. [See all interactive charts on alcohol consumption ↓](#all-charts) --- # Alcohol consumption across the world today --- This interactive map shows the annual average alcohol consumption of alcohol, expressed per person aged 15 years or older. To account for the differences in alcohol content of different alcoholic drinks (e.g. beer, wine, spirits), this is reported in liters of pure alcohol per year. The global average consumption was 6.17 liters per person in 2018. To make this average more understandable we can express it in bottles of wine. Wine contains around 12% of pure alcohol per volume{ref}Alcohol.org has [this overview](https://www.alcohol.org/statistics-information/abv/) of the range of alcohol by volume of beer, wine, & liquor.{/ref} so that one liter of wine contains 0.12 liters of pure alcohol. The global average of 6.2 liters of pure alcohol per person per year therefore equals 53 bottles of wine per person older than 15. Or to make it more memorable, around 1 liter of wine per week. As the map shows, the average per capita alcohol consumption varies widely across the world. We see large geographical differences: Alcohol consumption across North Africa and the Middle East is particularly low — in many countries, close to zero. At the upper end of the scale, alcohol intake across Europe is highest at around 15 liters per person per year in Czechia. This equals around two bottles of wine per person per week. Only slightly behind the Eastern European countries are Western European countries – including Germany, France, Portugal, Ireland, and Belgium – at around 12 to 14 liters. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-alcohol-consumption-per-capita-litres-of-pure-alcohol"/> ### Share of adults who drink alcohol This interactive map shows the share of adults who drink alcohol. This is given as the share of adults, aged 15 years and older, who have drunk alcohol within the previous year. In many countries the majority of adults drink some alcohol. Across Europe, for example, more than two-thirds do in most countries. Again, the prevalence of drinking across North Africa and the Middle East is notably lower than elsewhere. Typically 5 to 10 percent of adults across these regions drunk within the preceding year, and in a number of countries this was below 5 percent. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-adults-who-drank-alcohol-in-last-year"/> ### Alcohol consumption by sex When we look at gender differences we see that in all countries men are more likely to drink than women. This gender difference appears to be lowest in countries where the overall prevalence of drinking high. Where drinking prevalence is low-to-mid range, the prevalence of drinking in women tends to be significantly lower – often it is less than half the rate of men. Data on the share who drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK is available [here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-alcohol-last-week). <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/males-vs-females-who-drank-alcohol-in-last-year"/> ### Heavy drinking sessions Alcohol consumption – whilst a risk factor for a number of health outcomes – typically has the greatest negative impacts when consumed within heavy sessions. This pattern of drinking is often termed 'binging', where individuals consume large amounts of alcohol within a single session versus small quantities more frequently. Heavy episodic drinking is defined as the proportion of adult drinkers who have had at least 60 grams or more of pure alcohol on at least one occasion in the past 30 days. An intake of 60 grams of pure alcohol is approximately equal to 6 [standard alcoholic drinks](https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#what-is-a-standard-drink-measure). The map shows heavy drinkers – those who had an episode of heavy drinking in the previous 30 days – as a share of total drinkers (i.e those who have drunk less than one alcohol drink in the last 12 months are excluded). The comparison of this map with the previous maps makes clear that heavy drinking is not necessarily most common in the same countries where alcohol consumption is most common. Data on the prevalence of binge-drinking by age and gender in the UK can be found [here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-drinkers-who-binged); and trends in heavy and binge-drinking in the USA [here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-drank-usa). <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/drinkers-had-a-heavy-session-in-past-30-days"/> ### Share of adults who don't drink alcohol Global trends on alcohol abstinence show a mirror image of drinking prevalence data. This is shown in the charts as the share of adults who had not drunk in the prior year, and those who have never drunk alcohol. Here we see particularly high levels of alcohol abstinence across North Africa and the Middle East. In most countries in this region, more than 80 percent (often more than 90 percent) have never drunk alcohol. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-have-not-drank-alcohol-in-last-year"/> <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-population-who-never-drink-alcohol"/> Data on the share who don't drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK is available [here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-dont-drink-alcohol). --- # Historical perspective on alcohol consumption --- ### Total alcohol consumption over the long-run The chart shows alcohol consumption since 1890 in a number of countries. Across these high-income countries the annual average today lies between 5.6 liters in Japan and 10.4 liters in Austria. A century ago some countries had much higher levels of alcohol consumption. In France in the 1920s the average was 22.1 liters of pure alcohol per person per year. This equals 184 one liter wine bottles per person per year.{ref}22.1 liters per person in France equals 22.1l / 0.12l = 184 bottles per year.{/ref} Note that in contrast to the modern statistics that are expressed in alcohol consumption per person older than 15 years, this includes children as well – the average alcohol consumption per adult was therefore even higher. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-alcohol-1890"/> ### Alcohol consumption by type of alcoholic beverage This chart shows the change in consumption of alcoholic beverages. By default the data for Italy is shown – here the share of beer consumption increased and now makes up almost a quarter of alcohol consumption in Italy. With the change country feature it is possible to view the same data for other countries. Sweden for example increased the share of wine consumption and therefore reduced the share of spirits. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-by-type-1890"/> ### Alcohol consumption in the United States since 1850 Long-run data on alcohol consumption from the United States gives us one perspective of drinking since 1850. In the chart we see the average consumption (in litres of ethanol) of different beverage types per person in the USA from 1850 through to 2013. Over this long time period we see that per capita drinking quantities have been relatively constant — typically averaging around 8 to 9 litres per year. Over the period 1920-1933, there was a ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States (known as the 'National Alcohol Prohibition'). Since the statistics here reflect reported sales and consumption statistics, they assume zero consumption of alcohol over this time. However, there is evidence that alcohol consumption continued through black market and illegal sales, particularly in the sales of spirits. It's estimated that at the beginning of Prohibition alcohol consumption decreased to approximately 30 percent of pre-prohibition levels, but slowly increased to 60-70 percent by the end of the period.{ref}Miron & Zwiebel (1991). Alcohol Consumption During Prohibition. _The American Economic Review_, Vol. 81, No. 2, pp. 242-247, (May 1991). Available [online](http://www.nber.org/papers/w3675).{/ref} As we see, following prohibition, levels of alcohol consumption returned to the similar levels as in the pre-prohibition period. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-consumption-per-person-us"/> ## Global beer consumption The charts show global consumption of beer, first in terms of beer as a share of total alcohol consumption, and then the estimated average consumption per person. Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Beer contains around 5% of pure alcohol per volume{ref}Alcohol.org has [this overview](https://www.alcohol.org/statistics-information/abv/) of the range of alcohol by volume of beer, wine, & liquor.{/ref} so that one liter of beer contains 0.05 liters of pure alcohol. This means that 5 liters of pure alcohol equals 100 liters of beer. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/beer-as-share-alcohol-consumption"/> <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/beer-consumption-per-person"/> ## Global wine consumption The charts show global consumption of wine, first in terms of wine as a share of total alcohol consumption, and then the estimated average consumption per person. Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Wine contains around 12% of pure alcohol per volume so that one liter of wine contains 0.12 liters of pure alcohol. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wine-as-share-alcohol-consumption"/> <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wine-consumption-per-person"/> ## Global consumption of spirits The charts show global consumption of spirits, which are distilled alcoholic drinks including gin, rum, whisky, tequila and vodka. The first map shows this in terms of spirits as a share of total alcohol consumption. In many Asian countries spirits account for most of total alcohol consumption. In India it is over 90%. The second map shows the estimated average consumption per person. Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/spirits-as-share-total-alcohol-consumption"/> <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/spirits-consumption-per-person"/> --- # Expenditures on alcohol and alcohol consumption by income --- ## Alcohol consumption vs. income Does alcohol consumption increase as countries get richer? In the chart we see the relationship between average per capita alcohol consumption – in litres of pure alcohol per year – versus gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, across countries. When we look at national averages in this way there is not a distinct relationship between income and alcohol consumption. As shown by clusters of countries (for example, Middle Eastern countries with low alcohol intake but high GDP per capita), we tend to see strong cultural patterns which tend to alter the standard income-consumption relationship we may expect. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-consumption-vs-gdp-per-capita"/> However, when we looking at consumption data within given countries, we sometimes do see a clear income correlation. Taking 2016 data in the UK as an example we see that people within higher income brackets tend to drink more frequently. This correlation is also likely to be influenced by other lifestyle determinants and habits; the UK ONS also report that when grouped by education status, those with a university tend to drink more in total and more frequently than those of lower education status. There are also differences when grouped by profession: individuals in managerial or professional positions tend to drink more frequently than those in intermediate or manual labour roles.{ref}ONS (2018). Adult drinking habits in Great Britain. _UK Office of National Statistics_. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/drugusealcoholandsmoking/datasets/adultdrinkinghabits.{/ref} <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-on-5-or-more-days-by-income"/> However, we also find correlates in drinking _patterns_ when we look at groupings of income, education or work status. Although those in lower income or educational status groups often drink less overall, they are more likely to have lower-frequency, higher-intensity drinking patterns. Overall these groups drink less, but a higher percentage will drink heavily when they do. ## Alcohol expenditure This interactive chart shows the average share of household expenditure that is spent on alcohol. Data on alcohol expenditure is typically limited to North America, Europe and Oceania. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-expenditure-as-share-of-total"/> ### Alcohol expenditure over the long-term This shows the expenditure on alcohol in the United States, differentiated by where the alcohol has been purchased and consumed. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-expenditure"/> --- # The health impact of alcohol --- ## Alcohol is responsible for 2.8 million premature deaths each year Alcohol is one of the world's largest risk factors for premature death. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in its _Global Burden of Disease_ study provide estimates of the number of deaths attributed to the range of risk factors.{ref}GBD 2017 Risk Factor Collaborators. "[Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.](http://www.healthdata.org/research-article/global-regional-and-national-comparative-risk-assessment-84-behavioral-0)" (2018).{/ref} In the visualization we see the number of deaths per year attributed to each risk factor. This chart is shown for the global total, but can be explored for any country or region using the "change country" toggle. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor"/> ## Alcohol as a risk factor for mortality Alcohol consumption is a known [risk factor](https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#comparisons-of-risk-factors-of-death) for a number of health conditions and potential mortality cases. Alcohol consumption has a causal impact on more than 200 health conditions (diseases and injuries). In the chart we see estimates of the alcohol-attributable fraction (AAF), which is the proportion of deaths which are caused or exacerbated by alcohol (i.e. that proportion which would disappear if alcohol consumption was removed). Across most countries the proportion of deaths attributed to alcohol consumption ranges from 2 to 10 percent. However, across a range of countries this share is much higher; across some countries in Eastern Europe nearly one-quarter of deaths are attributed to alcohol consumption. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-attributable-fraction-of-mortality"/> ### Rate of premature deaths due to alcohol Shown here is the rate of premature deaths caused by alcohol. Globally the rate has declined from 43 deaths per 100,000 people in the early 1990s to 35 deaths in 2017. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/rate-of-premature-deaths-due-to-alcohol"/> ### Alcohol related deaths by age The chart shows the age distribution of those dying premature deaths due to alcohol. Globally almost three quarters are younger than 70 years. 28% are younger than 50 years. It is possible to switch this data to any other country or region in the world. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-attributed-to-alcohol-use-by-age"/> ## Alcoholism and alcohol use disorders _Alcohol use disorder_ (AUD) refers to drinking of alcohol that causes mental and physical health problems. Alcohol use disorder, which includes alcohol dependence, is defined the WHO's _International Classification of Diseases_ (available [here](https://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/bluebook.pdf)). At the [end of this entry](https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#further-reading-support) we provide a number of potential sources of support and guidance for those concerned about uncontrolled drinking or alcohol dependency. A definite diagnosis of dependence should usually be made only if three or more of the following have been present together at some time during the previous year: * (a) a strong desire or sense of compulsion to take the substance; * (b) difficulties in controlling substance-taking behaviour in terms of its onset, termination, or levels of use; * (c) a physiological withdrawal state when substance use has ceased or been reduced, as evidenced by: the characteristic withdrawal syndrome for the substance; or use of the same (or a closely related) substance with the intention of relieving or avoiding withdrawal symptoms; * (d) evidence of tolerance, such that increased doses of the psychoactive substance are required in order to achieve effects originally produced by lower doses (clear examples of this are found in alcohol- and opiate-dependent individuals who may take daily doses sufficient to incapacitate or kill nontolerant users); * (e) progressive neglect of alternative pleasures or interests because of psychoactive substance use, increased amount of time necessary to obtain or take the substance or to recover from its effects; * (f) persisting with substance use despite clear evidence of overtly harmful consequences, such as harm to the liver through excessive drinking, depressive mood states consequent to periods of heavy substance use, or drug-related impairment of cognitive functioning; efforts should be made to determine that the user was actually, or could be expected to be, aware of the nature and extent of the harm. The charts shown below present global data on the prevalence, disease burden and mortality cost of alcohol use disorders. ### Prevalence of alcohol use disorders It's estimated that globally around 1.4 percent of the population have an alcohol use disorder. At the country level, as shown in the chart, this ranges from around 0.5 to 5 percent of the population. In Russia, for example, the prevalence is 4.7 percent meaning that almost 1-in-20 have an alcohol dependence at any given time. When we look at the variance in prevalence [across age groups](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-alcohol-use-disorders-by-age) we see that globally the prevalence is highest in those aged between 25 and 34 years old (for which around 2.5 percent of the population have an alcohol use disorder). At the extreme of country-level figures, prevalence amongst Russians aged 30-34 years old is just under 10 percent. This means 1-in-10 Russians in this age group has an alcohol dependency. Globally, [107 million](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-with-alcohol-use-disorders-country) people are estimated to have an alcohol use disorder. This breakdown can be viewed by gender for any country [here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-with-alcohol-use-disorders); 70 percent globally (75 million) were male relative to 32 million females. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-suffering-from-alcohol-use-disorders"/> <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-alcohol-disorders-males-vs-females"/> The scatter plot compares the prevalence of alcohol use disorders in males versus that of females. In 2017 — with the exception of Ukraine — the prevalence of alcohol dependence in men was higher than in women across all countries. ### Deaths from alcohol use disorders Deaths from alcohol dependence can occur both directly or indirectly. Indirect deaths from alcohol use disorders can occur indirectly through suicide. In our entry on [Mental Health](https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#link-between-mental-health-and-suicide), we discuss the link between mental health and substance use disorders with suicide. Although clear attribution of suicide deaths is challenging, alcohol use disorders are a known and established risk factor. It's estimated that the [relative risk of suicide](https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#mental-health-as-a-risk-factor-for-suicide) in an individual with alcohol dependence is around 10 times higher than an individual without.{ref}Ferrari et al. (2015). The Burden Attributable to Mental and Substance Use Disorders as Risk Factors for Suicide: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. _PLOS ONE_. Available [online](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0091936#s1).{/ref} The chart shows direct death rates (not including suicide deaths) from alcohol use disorders across the world. In 2019, Belarus had the highest death rate with around 21 people per 100,000 individuals dying from alcoholism. For most countries this rate ranges from 1 to 5 deaths per 100,000 individuals. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rates-from-alcohol-use-disorders"/> It's estimated that globally, around 168,000 people died directly from alcohol use disorders in 2019. The total estimated number of deaths by country from 1990 to 2019 are found [here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-alcohol-use-disorders). ### Alcohol use disorder treatment Global data on the prevalence and effectiveness of alcohol use disorder treatment is very incomplete. In the chart we see data across some countries on the share of people with an alcohol use disorder who received treatment. This data is based on estimates of prevalence and treatment published by the World Health Organization (WHO). <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-with-alcohol-use-disorders-receiving-treatment"/> ### Alcohol use disorder vs. average alcohol intake Do countries with higher average alcohol consumption have a higher prevalence of alcohol use disorders? In the chart we see prevalence of alcohol dependence versus the average per capita alcohol consumption. Overall there is not a clear relationship between the two, although there may be a slight positive correlation, particularly when viewed by region (e.g. in Europe). There is not, however, clear evidence that high overall consumption (particularly in moderate quantities) is connected to the onset of alcohol dependency. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-with-alcohol-use-disorder-vs-alcohol-consumption"/> ## The disease burden from alcohol use disorders Measuring the health impact by mortality alone fails to capture the impact that alcohol use disorders have on an individual's wellbeing. The '[disease burden](https://ourworldindata.org/burden-of-disease)' – measured in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) – is a considers not only mortality, but also years lived with disability or health burden. The map shows DALYs per 100,000 people which result from alcohol use disorders. DALY rates differentiated by age group can be found [here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/dalys-from-alcohol-use-disorders-by-age). <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-disorders-dalys-age-standardized-rate"/> ## Risk factors for alcohol use disorders Many of the risk factors for alcohol dependency are similar to those of overall substance use disorders (including illicit drug disorders). Further discussion on these risk factors can be found at our entry on [Substance Use](https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use#risk-factors-for-substance-use-disorders). ### Mental health disorders as a risk factor for alcohol dependency In the chart we show results from a study conducted published by Swendsen et al. (2010).{ref}Swendsen, J., Conway, K. P., Degenhardt, L., Glantz, M., Jin, R., Merikangas, K. R., … & Kessler, R. C. (2010). Mental disorders as risk factors for substance use, abuse and dependence: results from the 10‐year follow‐up of the National Comorbidity Survey. _Addiction_, _105_(6), 1117-1128. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.02902.x{/ref} In this study the authors followed a cohort of more than 5000 individuals, with and without a [mental health](https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health) disorder (but without a substance use disorder) over a 10-year period. Following the 10 year period they re-assessed such individuals for whether they had either a nicotine, alcohol or illicit drug dependency.{ref}Full data with confidence intervals and statistical significance can be found at our table [here](https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health-disorders-as-risk-for-substance-use).{/ref} <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/mental-health-as-risk-for-alcohol-dependency"/> The results in the chart show the increased risk of developing alcohol dependency (we show results for illicit drug dependency in our entry on [Substance Use](https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use#mental-health-disorders-as-a-risk-factor-for-substance-dependency)) for someone with a given mental health disorder (relative to those without). For example, a value of 3.6 for bipolar disorder indicates that illicit drug dependency became more than three time more likely in individuals with bipolar disorder than those without. The risk of an alcohol use disorder is highest in individuals with intermittent explosive disorder, dysthymia, ODD, bipolar disorder and social phobia. --- # Alcohol, crime, and road deaths --- ## Alcohol-related road traffic deaths The map shows the share of all road traffic deaths attributed to alcohol consumption over the national legal limit for alcohol consumption. In South Africa and Papua New Guinea more than half of all traffic deaths are attributable to alcohol consumption. In the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and many European countries alcohol is responsible for around a third of all traffic deaths. In the countries shown in light yellow over 90% of road deaths are not related to alcohol consumption. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/road-traffic-deaths-to-alcohol"/> ## Alcohol-related crime Shown in this map is the share of all crimes which are considered to be alcohol-related. This includes two groups of criminal offenses: 0. Offenses in which the alcohol consumption is part of the crime such as driving with excess alcohol, liquor license violations, and drunkenness offenses. 1. Crimes in which the consumption of alcohol is thought to have played a role of some kind in the committing of the offense – including assault, criminal damage, and other public order offenses. The differences between countries are large: in some countries – including Iran, Chile, and Scandinavian countries – the share is well below 5%. In the UK on the other hand it is over 50%. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-related-crimes-of-all-crimes"/> --- # Definitions and Measurement --- ## What is a standard drink measure? Whilst the World Health Organization (WHO) and most national guidelines typically quantify one unit of alcohol as equal to 10 grams of pure alcohol, the metric used as a 'standard measure' can vary across countries. Most countries across Europe use this 10 grams metric, however this can vary with several adopting 12 or 14 grams per unit. In North America, a unit is typically taken as 14 grams of pure alcohol. In Japan, this is as high as 20 grams per unit. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/standard-drink-measure"/> --- # Data Sources --- ### Institute of Health Metrics & Evaluation (IHME), Global Burden of Disease (GBD) * Data: Deaths, DALYs and prevalence of substance use disorders, by age and sex * Geographical coverage: Global by country and region * Time span: since 1990 * Available at:[http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool](http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool) ### World Health Organization (WHO) International Classification of Diseases (ICD) World Health Organization. (1992). _The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders: clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines_ (Vol. 1). World Health Organization. * Data: Definitions and classifications of mental and substance use disorders * Available at:[ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders](http://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/bluebook.pdf) ### World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Observatory (GHO) * Data: Prevalence of substance use disorders, trends in alcohol consumption * Geographical coverage: Global by country * Time span: Variable depending on datasets. Most inconsistent years post-2000 * Available at:[http://www.who.int/gho/en/](http://www.who.int/gho/en/) --- # Further Resources & Guidance --- ### Alcohol Rehab Guide * Information: Guidance on the signs of alcoholism, unhealthy drinking behaviors, and support on where to go for help * Geographical coverage: Universal guidance; support options for the United States * Available at:[https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/support/](https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/support/) ### Hello Sunday Morning * Information: A social movement with the aim to reduce stigma around alcohol and to encourages people to consider their relationship with alcohol. * Available at:[HelloSundayMorning.org](https://www.hellosundaymorning.org/) ### Drink Aware * Information: List and contact details of a range of places for support on alcohol issues * Geographical coverage: United Kingdom * Available at:[https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-support-services/](https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-support-services/) ### Alcohol Help Center * Information: Free guidance, support and discussion groups on concerns related to alcohol * Geographical coverage: Global * Available at:[http://www.alcoholhelpcenter.net/](http://www.alcoholhelpcenter.net/) ### Rethinking Drinking * Information: Test to assess your drinking patterns relative to the US population * Geographical coverage: Global; assesses relative to US drinking patterns * Available at:[What's your drinking pattern?](https://www.rethinkingdrinking.niaaa.nih.gov/How-much-is-too-much/Is-your-drinking-pattern-risky/Whats-Your-Pattern.aspx) ### Rehab 4 Addiction * Information: An advisory and referral service for people who suffer from alcohol, drug, and behavioral addiction. * Geographical coverage: Universal guidance; support options for the United Kingdom * Available at:[ https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/](https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/) <AllCharts heading="Interactive charts on alcohol consumption"/>	{ "id": 18622, "date": "2018-04-16T21:06:41", "guid": { "rendered": "https://owid.cloud/?page_id=18622" }, "link": "https://owid.cloud/alcohol-consumption", "meta": { "owid_publication_context_meta_field": [], "owid_key_performance_indicators_meta_field": { "raw": "2.4 million people die prematurely from alcohol consumption every year. \n\n71% are younger than 70 years old.", "rendered": "<p><strong>2.4 million</strong> people die prematurely from alcohol consumption every year.</p>\n<p>71% are younger than 70 years old.</p>\n" } }, "slug": "alcohol-consumption", "tags": [], "type": "page", "title": { "rendered": "Alcohol Consumption" }, "_links": { "self": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/pages/18622" } ], "about": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/types/page" } ], "author": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/users/17", "embeddable": true } ], "curies": [ { "href": "https://api.w.org/{rel}", "name": "wp", "templated": true } ], "replies": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/comments?post=18622", "embeddable": true } ], "wp:term": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/categories?post=18622", "taxonomy": "category", "embeddable": true }, { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/tags?post=18622", "taxonomy": "post_tag", "embeddable": true } ], "collection": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/pages" } ], "wp:attachment": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/media?parent=18622" } ], "version-history": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/pages/18622/revisions", "count": 29 } ], "wp:featuredmedia": [ { "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/media/27542", "embeddable": true } ], "predecessor-version": [ { "id": 58409, "href": "https://owid.cloud/wp-json/wp/v2/pages/18622/revisions/58409" } ] }, "author": 17, "parent": 0, "status": "publish", "content": { "rendered": "\n<div class=\"blog-info\">This article was first published in April 2018. It was revised in January 2022.</div>\n\n\n\n<p>Alcohol has historically, and continues to, hold an important role in social engagement and bonding for many. Social drinking or moderate alcohol consumption for many is pleasurable.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, alcohol consumption \u2013 especially in excess \u2013 is linked to a number of negative outcomes: as a risk factor for diseases and health impacts; crime; road incidents; and for some, alcohol dependence. Globally alcohol consumption causes <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor\">2.8 million premature deaths per year</a>.{ref}74% of those who die are younger than 70 years.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This entry looks at the data on global patterns of alcohol consumption, patterns of drinking, beverage types, the prevalence of alcoholism; and consequences, including crime, mortality and road incidents.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related entries:</strong><br>Data on other drug use can be found at our full entry <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Drug Use disorders are often classified within the same category as mental health disorders \u2014 research and data on mental health can be found at our entry <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Support for alcohol dependency</strong><br>At the end of this entry you will <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#further-resources-guidance\">find additional resources</a> and guidance if you, or someone you know needs support in dealing with alcohol dependency.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Alcohol consumption across the world today</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This interactive map shows the annual average alcohol consumption of alcohol, expressed per person aged 15 years or older. To account for the differences in alcohol content of different alcoholic drinks (e.g. beer, wine, spirits), this is reported in liters of pure alcohol per year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The global average consumption was 6.17 liters per person in 2018.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>To make this average more understandable we can express it in bottles of wine. Wine contains around 12% of pure alcohol per volume{ref}Alcohol.org has <a href=\"https://www.alcohol.org/statistics-information/abv/\">this overview</a> of the range of alcohol by volume of beer, wine, & liquor.{/ref} so that one liter of wine contains 0.12 liters of pure alcohol. The global average of 6.2 liters of pure alcohol per person per year therefore equals 53 bottles of wine per person older than 15. Or to make it more memorable, around 1 liter of wine per week.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the map shows, the average per capita alcohol consumption varies widely across the world. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>We see large geographical differences: Alcohol consumption across North Africa and the Middle East is particularly low \u2014 in many countries, close to zero. At the upper end of the scale, alcohol intake across Europe is highest at around 15 liters per person per year in Czechia. This equals around two bottles of wine per person per week.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Only slightly behind the Eastern European countries are Western European countries \u2013 including Germany, France, Portugal, Ireland, and Belgium \u2013 at around 12 to 14 liters.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-alcohol-consumption-per-capita-litres-of-pure-alcohol\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Share of adults who drink alcohol</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This interactive map shows the share of adults who drink alcohol. This is given as the share of adults, aged 15 years and older, who have drunk alcohol within the previous year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In many countries the majority of adults drink some alcohol. Across Europe, for example, more than two-thirds do in most countries.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Again, the prevalence of drinking across North Africa and the Middle East is notably lower than elsewhere. Typically 5 to 10 percent of adults across these regions drunk within the preceding year, and in a number of countries this was below 5 percent.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-adults-who-drank-alcohol-in-last-year\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol consumption by sex</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>When we look at gender differences we see that in all countries men are more likely to drink than women. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>This gender difference appears to be lowest in countries where the overall prevalence of drinking high. Where drinking prevalence is low-to-mid range, the prevalence of drinking in women tends to be significantly lower \u2013 often it is less than half the rate of men.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Data on the share who drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK is available <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-alcohol-last-week\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/males-vs-females-who-drank-alcohol-in-last-year\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Heavy drinking sessions</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Alcohol consumption \u2013 whilst a risk factor for a number of health outcomes \u2013 typically has the greatest negative impacts when consumed within heavy sessions. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>This pattern of drinking is often termed ‘binging’, where individuals consume large amounts of alcohol within a single session versus small quantities more frequently. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heavy episodic drinking is defined as the proportion of adult drinkers who have had at least 60 grams or more of pure alcohol on at least one occasion in the past 30 days. An intake of 60 grams of pure alcohol is approximately equal to 6 <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#what-is-a-standard-drink-measure\" target=\"_blank\">standard alcoholic drinks</a>. The map shows heavy drinkers \u2013 those who had an episode of heavy drinking in the previous 30 days \u2013 as a share of total drinkers (i.e those who have drunk less than one alcohol drink in the last 12 months are excluded).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The comparison of this map with the previous maps makes clear that heavy drinking is not necessarily most common in the same countries where alcohol consumption is most common.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Data on the prevalence of binge-drinking by age and gender in the UK can be found <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-drinkers-who-binged\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here</a>; and trends in heavy and binge-drinking in the USA <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-drank-usa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/drinkers-had-a-heavy-session-in-past-30-days\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Share of adults who don’t drink alcohol</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Global trends on alcohol abstinence show a mirror image of drinking prevalence data. This is shown in the charts as the share of adults who had not drunk in the prior year, and those who have never drunk alcohol. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here we see particularly high levels of alcohol abstinence across North Africa and the Middle East. In most countries in this region, more than 80 percent (often more than 90 percent) have never drunk alcohol.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-have-not-drank-alcohol-in-last-year\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-population-who-never-drink-alcohol\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>Data on the share who don’t drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK is available <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-dont-drink-alcohol\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Historical perspective on alcohol consumption</h2>\n\n\n\n<h4>Total alcohol consumption over the long-run</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The chart shows alcohol consumption since 1890 in a number of countries.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Across these high-income countries the annual average today lies between 5.6 liters in Japan and 10.4 liters in Austria.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A century ago some countries had much higher levels of alcohol consumption. In France in the 1920s the average was 22.1 liters of pure alcohol per person per year. This equals 184 one liter wine bottles per person per year.{ref}22.1 liters per person in France equals 22.1l / 0.12l = 184 bottles per year.{/ref} Note that in contrast to the modern statistics that are expressed in alcohol consumption per person older than 15 years, this includes children as well \u2013 the average alcohol consumption per adult was therefore even higher.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-alcohol-1890\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol consumption by type of alcoholic beverage</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This chart shows the change in consumption of alcoholic beverages. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>By default the data for Italy is shown \u2013 here the share of beer consumption increased and now makes up almost a quarter of alcohol consumption in Italy.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the change country feature it is possible to view the same data for other countries. Sweden for example increased the share of wine consumption and therefore reduced the share of spirits.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-by-type-1890\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol consumption in the United States since 1850</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Long-run data on alcohol consumption from the United States gives us one perspective of drinking since 1850. In the chart we see the average consumption (in litres of ethanol) of different beverage types per person in the USA from 1850 through to 2013.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over this long time period we see that per capita drinking quantities have been relatively constant \u2014 typically averaging around 8 to 9 litres per year. Over the period 1920-1933, there was a ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States (known as the ‘National Alcohol Prohibition’). Since the statistics here reflect reported sales and consumption statistics, they assume zero consumption of alcohol over this time. However, there is evidence that alcohol consumption continued through black market and illegal sales, particularly in the sales of spirits. It’s estimated that at the beginning of Prohibition alcohol consumption decreased to approximately 30 percent of pre-prohibition levels, but slowly increased to 60-70 percent by the end of the period.{ref}Miron & Zwiebel (1991). Alcohol Consumption During Prohibition. <em>The American Economic Review</em>, Vol. 81, No. 2, pp. 242-247, (May 1991). Available <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http://www.nber.org/papers/w3675\" target=\"_blank\">online</a>.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we see, following prohibition, levels of alcohol consumption returned to the similar levels as in the pre-prohibition period.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-consumption-per-person-us\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Global beer consumption</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The charts show global consumption of beer, first in terms of beer as a share of total alcohol consumption, and then the estimated average consumption per person. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Beer contains around 5% of pure alcohol per volume{ref}Alcohol.org has <a href=\"https://www.alcohol.org/statistics-information/abv/\">this overview</a> of the range of alcohol by volume of beer, wine, & liquor.{/ref} so that one liter of beer contains 0.05 liters of pure alcohol. This means that 5 liters of pure alcohol equals 100 liters of beer.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/beer-as-share-alcohol-consumption\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/beer-consumption-per-person\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Global wine consumption</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The charts show global consumption of wine, first in terms of wine as a share of total alcohol consumption, and then the estimated average consumption per person. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Wine contains around 12% of pure alcohol per volume so that one liter of wine contains 0.12 liters of pure alcohol.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wine-as-share-alcohol-consumption\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wine-consumption-per-person\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Global consumption of spirits</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The charts show global consumption of spirits, which are distilled alcoholic drinks including gin, rum, whisky, tequila and vodka. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first map shows this in terms of spirits as a share of total alcohol consumption. In many Asian countries spirits account for most of total alcohol consumption. In India it is over 90%.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second map shows the estimated average consumption per person. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/spirits-as-share-total-alcohol-consumption\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/spirits-consumption-per-person\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h2>Expenditures on alcohol and alcohol consumption by income</h2>\n\n\n\n<h3>Alcohol consumption vs. income</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Does alcohol consumption increase as countries get richer? </p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart we see the relationship between average per capita alcohol consumption \u2013 in litres of pure alcohol per year \u2013 versus gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, across countries.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we look at national averages in this way there is not a distinct relationship between income and alcohol consumption. As shown by clusters of countries (for example, Middle Eastern countries with low alcohol intake but high GDP per capita), we tend to see strong cultural patterns which tend to alter the standard income-consumption relationship we may expect.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-consumption-vs-gdp-per-capita\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>However, when we looking at consumption data within given countries, we sometimes do see a clear income correlation. Taking 2016 data in the UK as an example we see that people within higher income brackets tend to drink more frequently. This correlation is also likely to be influenced by other lifestyle determinants and habits; the UK ONS also report that when grouped by education status, those with a university tend to drink more in total and more frequently than those of lower education status. There are also differences when grouped by profession: individuals in managerial or professional positions tend to drink more frequently than those in intermediate or manual labour roles.{ref}ONS (2018). Adult drinking habits in Great Britain. <em>UK Office of National Statistics</em>. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/drugusealcoholandsmoking/datasets/adultdrinkinghabits.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-on-5-or-more-days-by-income\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>However, we also find correlates in drinking <em>patterns</em> when we look at groupings of income, education or work status. Although those in lower income or educational status groups often drink less overall, they are more likely to have lower-frequency, higher-intensity drinking patterns. Overall these groups drink less, but a higher percentage will drink heavily when they do.<br></p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Alcohol expenditure</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This interactive chart shows the average share of household expenditure that is spent on alcohol. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Data on alcohol expenditure is typically limited to North America, Europe and Oceania.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-expenditure-as-share-of-total\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol expenditure over the long-term</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This shows the expenditure on alcohol in the United States, differentiated by where the alcohol has been purchased and consumed.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-expenditure\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h2>The health impact of alcohol</h2>\n\n\n\n<h3>Alcohol is responsible for 2.8 million premature deaths each year</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Alcohol is one of the world’s largest risk factors for premature death.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in its <em>Global Burden of Disease</em> study provide estimates of the number of deaths attributed to the range of risk factors.{ref}GBD 2017 Risk Factor Collaborators. “<a href=\"http://www.healthdata.org/research-article/global-regional-and-national-comparative-risk-assessment-84-behavioral-0\">Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.</a>” (2018).{/ref} In the visualization we see the number of deaths per year attributed to each risk factor. This chart is shown for the global total, but can be explored for any country or region using the “change country” toggle.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Alcohol as a risk factor for mortality</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Alcohol consumption is a known <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#comparisons-of-risk-factors-of-death\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">risk factor</a> for a number of health conditions and potential mortality cases. Alcohol consumption has a causal impact on more than 200 health conditions (diseases and injuries).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart we see estimates of the alcohol-attributable fraction (AAF), which is the proportion of deaths which are caused or exacerbated by alcohol (i.e. that proportion which would disappear if alcohol consumption was removed). </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Across most countries the proportion of deaths attributed to alcohol consumption ranges from 2 to 10 percent. However, across a range of countries this share is much higher; across some countries in Eastern Europe nearly one-quarter of deaths are attributed to alcohol consumption.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-attributable-fraction-of-mortality\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Rate of premature deaths due to alcohol</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Shown here is the rate of premature deaths caused by alcohol.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Globally the rate has declined from 43 deaths per 100,000 people in the early 1990s to 35 deaths in 2017.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/rate-of-premature-deaths-due-to-alcohol\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol related deaths by age</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The chart shows the age distribution of those dying premature deaths due to alcohol.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Globally almost three quarters are younger than 70 years. 28% are younger than 50 years.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is possible to switch this data to any other country or region in the world.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-attributed-to-alcohol-use-by-age\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Alcoholism and alcohol use disorders</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Alcohol use disorder</em> (AUD) refers to drinking of alcohol that causes mental and physical health problems. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alcohol use disorder, which includes alcohol dependence, is defined the WHO’s <em>International Classification of Diseases</em> (available <a href=\"https://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/bluebook.pdf\">here</a>).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#further-reading-support\" target=\"_blank\">end of this entry</a> we provide a number of potential sources of support and guidance for those concerned about uncontrolled drinking or alcohol dependency.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A definite diagnosis of dependence should usually be made only if three or more of the following have been present together at some time during the previous year:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>(a) a strong desire or sense of compulsion to take the substance;</li><li>(b) difficulties in controlling substance-taking behaviour in terms of its onset, termination, or levels of use;</li><li>(c) a physiological withdrawal state when substance use has ceased or been reduced, as evidenced by: the characteristic withdrawal syndrome for the substance; or use of the same (or a closely related) substance with the intention of relieving or avoiding withdrawal symptoms;</li><li>(d) evidence of tolerance, such that increased doses of the psychoactive substance are required in order to achieve effects originally produced by lower doses (clear examples of this are found in alcohol- and opiate-dependent individuals who may take daily doses sufficient to incapacitate or kill nontolerant users);</li><li>(e) progressive neglect of alternative pleasures or interests because of psychoactive substance use, increased amount of time necessary to obtain or take the substance or to recover from its effects;</li><li>(f) persisting with substance use despite clear evidence of overtly harmful consequences, such as harm to the liver through excessive drinking, depressive mood states consequent to periods of heavy substance use, or drug-related impairment of cognitive functioning; efforts should be made to determine that the user was actually, or could be expected to be, aware of the nature and extent of the harm.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The charts shown below present global data on the prevalence, disease burden and mortality cost of alcohol use disorders.</p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Prevalence of alcohol use disorders</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>It’s estimated that globally around 1.4 percent of the population have an alcohol use disorder. At the country level, as shown in the chart, this ranges from around 0.5 to 5 percent of the population. In Russia, for example, the prevalence is 4.7 percent meaning that almost 1-in-20 have an alcohol dependence at any given time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we look at the variance in prevalence <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-alcohol-use-disorders-by-age\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">across age groups</a> we see that globally the prevalence is highest in those aged between 25 and 34 years old (for which around 2.5 percent of the population have an alcohol use disorder). At the extreme of country-level figures, prevalence amongst Russians aged 30-34 years old is just under 10 percent. This means 1-in-10 Russians in this age group has an alcohol dependency.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Globally, <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-with-alcohol-use-disorders-country\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">107 million</a> people are estimated to have an alcohol use disorder. This breakdown can be viewed by gender for any country <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-with-alcohol-use-disorders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here</a>; 70 percent globally (75 million) were male relative to 32 million females.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-suffering-from-alcohol-use-disorders\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-alcohol-disorders-males-vs-females\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>The scatter plot compares the prevalence of alcohol use disorders in males versus that of females. In 2017 \u2014 with the exception of Ukraine \u2014 the prevalence of alcohol dependence in men was higher than in women across all countries.</p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Deaths from alcohol use disorders</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Deaths from alcohol dependence can occur both directly or indirectly. Indirect deaths from alcohol use disorders can occur indirectly through suicide. In our entry on <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#link-between-mental-health-and-suicide\" target=\"_blank\">Mental Health</a>, we discuss the link between mental health and substance use disorders with suicide. Although clear attribution of suicide deaths is challenging, alcohol use disorders are a known and established risk factor. It’s estimated that the <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#mental-health-as-a-risk-factor-for-suicide\" target=\"_blank\">relative risk of suicide</a> in an individual with alcohol dependence is around 10 times higher than an individual without.{ref}Ferrari et al. (2015). The Burden Attributable to Mental and Substance Use Disorders as Risk Factors for Suicide: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. <em>PLOS ONE</em>. Available <a href=\"http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0091936#s1\">online</a>.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The chart shows direct death rates (not including suicide deaths) from alcohol use disorders across the world. In 2019, Belarus had the highest death rate with around 21 people per 100,000 individuals dying from alcoholism. For most countries this rate ranges from 1 to 5 deaths per 100,000 individuals.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rates-from-alcohol-use-disorders\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>It’s estimated that globally, around 168,000 people died directly from alcohol use disorders in 2019. The total estimated number of deaths by country from 1990 to 2019 are found <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-alcohol-use-disorders\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.<br></p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol use disorder treatment</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Global data on the prevalence and effectiveness of alcohol use disorder treatment is very incomplete. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart we see data across some countries on the share of people with an alcohol use disorder who received treatment. This data is based on estimates of prevalence and treatment published by the World Health Organization (WHO).</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-with-alcohol-use-disorders-receiving-treatment\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol use disorder vs. average alcohol intake</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Do countries with higher average alcohol consumption have a higher prevalence of alcohol use disorders? </p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart we see prevalence of alcohol dependence versus the average per capita alcohol consumption. Overall there is not a clear relationship between the two, although there may be a slight positive correlation, particularly when viewed by region (e.g. in Europe). There is not, however, clear evidence that high overall consumption (particularly in moderate quantities) is connected to the onset of alcohol dependency.<br></p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-with-alcohol-use-disorder-vs-alcohol-consumption\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>The disease burden from alcohol use disorders</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Measuring the health impact by mortality alone fails to capture the impact that alcohol use disorders have on an individual’s wellbeing. The ‘<a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/burden-of-disease\">disease burden</a>‘ \u2013 measured in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) \u2013 is a considers not only mortality, but also years lived with disability or health burden. The map shows DALYs per 100,000 people which result from alcohol use disorders.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>DALY rates differentiated by age group can be found <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/dalys-from-alcohol-use-disorders-by-age\">here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-disorders-dalys-age-standardized-rate\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Risk factors for alcohol use disorders</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of the risk factors for alcohol dependency are similar to those of overall substance use disorders (including illicit drug disorders). Further discussion on these risk factors can be found at our entry on <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use#risk-factors-for-substance-use-disorders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Substance Use</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Mental health disorders as a risk factor for alcohol dependency</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart we show results from a study conducted published by Swendsen et al. (2010).{ref}Swendsen, J., Conway, K. P., Degenhardt, L., Glantz, M., Jin, R., Merikangas, K. R., \u2026 & Kessler, R. C. (2010). Mental disorders as risk factors for substance use, abuse and dependence: results from the 10\u2010year follow\u2010up of the National Comorbidity Survey. <em>Addiction</em>, <em>105</em>(6), 1117-1128. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.02902.x{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p> In this study the authors followed a cohort of more than 5000 individuals, with and without a <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health\" target=\"_blank\">mental health</a> disorder (but without a substance use disorder) over a 10-year period. Following the 10 year period they re-assessed such individuals for whether they had either a nicotine, alcohol or illicit drug dependency.{ref}Full data with confidence intervals and statistical significance can be found at our table <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health-disorders-as-risk-for-substance-use\">here</a>.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/mental-health-as-risk-for-alcohol-dependency\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>The results in the chart show the increased risk of developing alcohol dependency (we show results for illicit drug dependency in our entry on <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use#mental-health-disorders-as-a-risk-factor-for-substance-dependency\" target=\"_blank\">Substance Use</a>) for someone with a given mental health disorder (relative to those without). For example, a value of 3.6 for bipolar disorder indicates that illicit drug dependency became more than three time more likely in individuals with bipolar disorder than those without. The risk of an alcohol use disorder is highest in individuals with intermittent explosive disorder, dysthymia, ODD, bipolar disorder and social phobia.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Alcohol, crime, and road deaths</h2>\n\n\n\n<h3>Alcohol-related road traffic deaths</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The map shows the share of all road traffic deaths attributed to alcohol consumption over the national legal limit for alcohol consumption.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In South Africa and Papua New Guinea more than half of all traffic deaths are attributable to alcohol consumption.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and many European countries alcohol is responsible for around a third of all traffic deaths.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the countries shown in light yellow over 90% of road deaths are not related to alcohol consumption.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/road-traffic-deaths-to-alcohol\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Alcohol-related crime</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Shown in this map is the share of all crimes which are considered to be alcohol-related.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This includes two groups of criminal offenses: </p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Offenses in which the alcohol consumption is part of the crime such as driving with excess alcohol, liquor license violations, and drunkenness offenses.</li><li>Crimes in which the consumption of alcohol is thought to have played a role of some kind in the committing of the offense \u2013 including assault, criminal damage, and other public order offenses.</li></ol>\n\n\n\n<p>The differences between countries are large: in some countries \u2013 including Iran, Chile, and Scandinavian countries \u2013 the share is well below 5%. In the UK on the other hand it is over 50%.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-related-crimes-of-all-crimes\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h2>Definitions and Measurement</h2>\n\n\n\n<h3>What is a standard drink measure?</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Whilst the World Health Organization (WHO) and most national guidelines typically quantify one unit of alcohol as equal to 10 grams of pure alcohol, the metric used as a ‘standard measure’ can vary across countries. Most countries across Europe use this 10 grams metric, however this can vary with several adopting 12 or 14 grams per unit.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In North America, a unit is typically taken as 14 grams of pure alcohol. In Japan, this is as high as 20 grams per unit.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/standard-drink-measure\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h2>Data Sources</h2>\n\n\n\n<h4>Institute of Health Metrics & Evaluation (IHME), Global Burden of Disease (GBD)</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Data</strong>: Deaths, DALYs and prevalence of substance use disorders, by age and sex</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage: </strong>Global by country and region</li><li><strong>Time span: </strong>since 1990</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool\" target=\"_blank\">http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool</a> </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>World Health Organization (WHO) International Classification of Diseases (ICD)</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>World Health Organization. (1992). <i>The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders: clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines</i> (Vol. 1). World Health Organization.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li> <strong>Data</strong>: Definitions and classifications of mental and substance use disorders</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/bluebook.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders</a> </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Observatory (GHO)</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li> <strong>Data</strong>: Prevalence of substance use disorders, trends in alcohol consumption</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage: </strong>Global by country</li><li><strong>Time span: </strong>Variable depending on datasets. Most inconsistent years post-2000</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"http://www.who.int/gho/en/\">http://www.who.int/gho/en/</a> </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2>Further Resources & Guidance</h2>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol Rehab Guide</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li> <strong>Information</strong>: Guidance on the signs of alcoholism, unhealthy drinking behaviors, and support on where to go for help</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong> Universal guidance; support options for the United States</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/support/\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/support/</a> </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>Hello Sunday Morning</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li> <strong>Information</strong>: A social movement with the aim to reduce stigma around alcohol and to encourages people to consider their relationship with alcohol.</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a href=\"https://www.hellosundaymorning.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HelloSundayMorning.org</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>Drink Aware</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li> <strong>Information</strong>: List and contact details of a range of places for support on alcohol issues</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong> United Kingdom</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-support-services/\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-support-services/</a> </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol Help Center</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li> <strong>Information</strong>: Free guidance, support and discussion groups on concerns related to alcohol</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong>  Global</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http://www.alcoholhelpcenter.net/\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.alcoholhelpcenter.net/</a> </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>Rethinking Drinking</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Information</strong>: Test to assess your drinking patterns relative to the US population</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong>  Global; assesses relative to US drinking patterns</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://www.rethinkingdrinking.niaaa.nih.gov/How-much-is-too-much/Is-your-drinking-pattern-risky/Whats-Your-Pattern.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">What’s your drinking pattern?</a> </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>Rehab 4 Addiction</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Information</strong>: An advisory and referral service for people who suffer from alcohol, drug, and behavioral addiction.</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong>  Universal guidance; support options for the United Kingdom</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong><a href=\"https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/</a> </li></ul>\n", "protected": false }, "excerpt": { "rendered": "Who consumes the most alcohol? How has consumption changed over time? And what are the health impacts?", "protected": false }, "date_gmt": "2018-04-16T20:06:41", "modified": "2023-11-01T08:53:00", "template": "", "categories": [ 46, 170, 47, 182 ], "menu_order": 277, "ping_status": "closed", "authors_name": [ "Hannah Ritchie" ], "modified_gmt": "2023-11-01T08:53:00", "comment_status": "closed", "featured_media": 27542, "featured_media_paths": { "thumbnail": "/app/uploads/2019/11/total-alcohol-consumption-per-capita-litres-of-pure-alcohol-3-150x106.png", "medium_large": "/app/uploads/2019/11/total-alcohol-consumption-per-capita-litres-of-pure-alcohol-3-768x542.png" } }

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Alcohol Consumption

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<div class="blog-info">This article was first published in April 2018. It was revised in January 2022.</div>   <p>Alcohol has historically, and continues to, hold an important role in social engagement and bonding for many. Social drinking or moderate alcohol consumption for many is pleasurable.</p>   <p>However, alcohol consumption – especially in excess – is linked to a number of negative outcomes: as a risk factor for diseases and health impacts; crime; road incidents; and for some, alcohol dependence. Globally alcohol consumption causes <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor">2.8 million premature deaths per year</a>.{ref}74% of those who die are younger than 70 years.{/ref}</p>   <p>This entry looks at the data on global patterns of alcohol consumption, patterns of drinking, beverage types, the prevalence of alcoholism; and consequences, including crime, mortality and road incidents.</p>   <p><strong>Related entries:</strong><br>Data on other drug use can be found at our full entry <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>   <p>Drug Use disorders are often classified within the same category as mental health disorders — research and data on mental health can be found at our entry <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>   <p><strong>Support for alcohol dependency</strong><br>At the end of this entry you will <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#further-resources-guidance">find additional resources</a> and guidance if you, or someone you know needs support in dealing with alcohol dependency.</p>   <h2>Alcohol consumption across the world today</h2>   <p>This interactive map shows the annual average alcohol consumption of alcohol, expressed per person aged 15 years or older. To account for the differences in alcohol content of different alcoholic drinks (e.g. beer, wine, spirits), this is reported in liters of pure alcohol per year.</p>   <p>The global average consumption was 6.17 liters per person in 2018.</p>   <p>To make this average more understandable we can express it in bottles of wine. Wine contains around 12% of pure alcohol per volume{ref}Alcohol.org has <a href="https://www.alcohol.org/statistics-information/abv/">this overview</a> of the range of alcohol by volume of beer, wine, & liquor.{/ref} so that one liter of wine contains 0.12 liters of pure alcohol. The global average of 6.2 liters of pure alcohol per person per year therefore equals 53 bottles of wine per person older than 15. Or to make it more memorable, around 1 liter of wine per week.</p>   <p>As the map shows, the average per capita alcohol consumption varies widely across the world. </p>   <p>We see large geographical differences: Alcohol consumption across North Africa and the Middle East is particularly low — in many countries, close to zero. At the upper end of the scale, alcohol intake across Europe is highest at around 15 liters per person per year in Czechia. This equals around two bottles of wine per person per week.</p>   <p>Only slightly behind the Eastern European countries are Western European countries – including Germany, France, Portugal, Ireland, and Belgium – at around 12 to 14 liters.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-alcohol-consumption-per-capita-litres-of-pure-alcohol" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <h4>Share of adults who drink alcohol</h4>   <p>This interactive map shows the share of adults who drink alcohol. This is given as the share of adults, aged 15 years and older, who have drunk alcohol within the previous year.</p>   <p>In many countries the majority of adults drink some alcohol. Across Europe, for example, more than two-thirds do in most countries.</p>   <p>Again, the prevalence of drinking across North Africa and the Middle East is notably lower than elsewhere. Typically 5 to 10 percent of adults across these regions drunk within the preceding year, and in a number of countries this was below 5 percent.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-adults-who-drank-alcohol-in-last-year" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <h4>Alcohol consumption by sex</h4>   <p>When we look at gender differences we see that in all countries men are more likely to drink than women. </p>   <p>This gender difference appears to be lowest in countries where the overall prevalence of drinking high. Where drinking prevalence is low-to-mid range, the prevalence of drinking in women tends to be significantly lower – often it is less than half the rate of men.</p>   <p>Data on the share who drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK is available <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-alcohol-last-week" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/males-vs-females-who-drank-alcohol-in-last-year" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <h4>Heavy drinking sessions</h4>   <p>Alcohol consumption – whilst a risk factor for a number of health outcomes – typically has the greatest negative impacts when consumed within heavy sessions. </p>   <p>This pattern of drinking is often termed 'binging', where individuals consume large amounts of alcohol within a single session versus small quantities more frequently. </p>   <p>Heavy episodic drinking is defined as the proportion of adult drinkers who have had at least 60 grams or more of pure alcohol on at least one occasion in the past 30 days. An intake of 60 grams of pure alcohol is approximately equal to 6 <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#what-is-a-standard-drink-measure" target="_blank">standard alcoholic drinks</a>. The map shows heavy drinkers – those who had an episode of heavy drinking in the previous 30 days – as a share of total drinkers (i.e those who have drunk less than one alcohol drink in the last 12 months are excluded).</p>   <p>The comparison of this map with the previous maps makes clear that heavy drinking is not necessarily most common in the same countries where alcohol consumption is most common.</p>   <p>Data on the prevalence of binge-drinking by age and gender in the UK can be found <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-drinkers-who-binged" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>; and trends in heavy and binge-drinking in the USA <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-drank-usa" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/drinkers-had-a-heavy-session-in-past-30-days" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <h4>Share of adults who don't drink alcohol</h4>   <p>Global trends on alcohol abstinence show a mirror image of drinking prevalence data. This is shown in the charts as the share of adults who had not drunk in the prior year, and those who have never drunk alcohol. </p>   <p>Here we see particularly high levels of alcohol abstinence across North Africa and the Middle East. In most countries in this region, more than 80 percent (often more than 90 percent) have never drunk alcohol.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-have-not-drank-alcohol-in-last-year" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-population-who-never-drink-alcohol" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <p>Data on the share who don't drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK is available <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-dont-drink-alcohol" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>   <h2>Historical perspective on alcohol consumption</h2>   <h4>Total alcohol consumption over the long-run</h4>   <p>The chart shows alcohol consumption since 1890 in a number of countries.</p>   <p>Across these high-income countries the annual average today lies between 5.6 liters in Japan and 10.4 liters in Austria.</p>   <p>A century ago some countries had much higher levels of alcohol consumption. In France in the 1920s the average was 22.1 liters of pure alcohol per person per year. This equals 184 one liter wine bottles per person per year.{ref}22.1 liters per person in France equals 22.1l / 0.12l = 184 bottles per year.{/ref} Note that in contrast to the modern statistics that are expressed in alcohol consumption per person older than 15 years, this includes children as well – the average alcohol consumption per adult was therefore even higher.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-alcohol-1890"></iframe>   <h4>Alcohol consumption by type of alcoholic beverage</h4>   <p>This chart shows the change in consumption of alcoholic beverages. </p>   <p>By default the data for Italy is shown – here the share of beer consumption increased and now makes up almost a quarter of alcohol consumption in Italy.</p>   <p>With the change country feature it is possible to view the same data for other countries. Sweden for example increased the share of wine consumption and therefore reduced the share of spirits.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-by-type-1890"></iframe>   <h4>Alcohol consumption in the United States since 1850</h4>   <p>Long-run data on alcohol consumption from the United States gives us one perspective of drinking since 1850. In the chart we see the average consumption (in litres of ethanol) of different beverage types per person in the USA from 1850 through to 2013.</p>   <p>Over this long time period we see that per capita drinking quantities have been relatively constant — typically averaging around 8 to 9 litres per year. Over the period 1920-1933, there was a ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States (known as the 'National Alcohol Prohibition'). Since the statistics here reflect reported sales and consumption statistics, they assume zero consumption of alcohol over this time. However, there is evidence that alcohol consumption continued through black market and illegal sales, particularly in the sales of spirits. It's estimated that at the beginning of Prohibition alcohol consumption decreased to approximately 30 percent of pre-prohibition levels, but slowly increased to 60-70 percent by the end of the period.{ref}Miron & Zwiebel (1991). Alcohol Consumption During Prohibition. <em>The American Economic Review</em>, Vol. 81, No. 2, pp. 242-247, (May 1991). Available <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w3675" target="_blank">online</a>.{/ref}</p>   <p>As we see, following prohibition, levels of alcohol consumption returned to the similar levels as in the pre-prohibition period.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-consumption-per-person-us" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <h3>Global beer consumption</h3>   <p>The charts show global consumption of beer, first in terms of beer as a share of total alcohol consumption, and then the estimated average consumption per person. </p>   <p>Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Beer contains around 5% of pure alcohol per volume{ref}Alcohol.org has <a href="https://www.alcohol.org/statistics-information/abv/">this overview</a> of the range of alcohol by volume of beer, wine, & liquor.{/ref} so that one liter of beer contains 0.05 liters of pure alcohol. This means that 5 liters of pure alcohol equals 100 liters of beer.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/beer-as-share-alcohol-consumption" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/beer-consumption-per-person" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <h3>Global wine consumption</h3>   <p>The charts show global consumption of wine, first in terms of wine as a share of total alcohol consumption, and then the estimated average consumption per person. </p>   <p>Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Wine contains around 12% of pure alcohol per volume so that one liter of wine contains 0.12 liters of pure alcohol.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wine-as-share-alcohol-consumption" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wine-consumption-per-person" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <h3>Global consumption of spirits</h3>   <p>The charts show global consumption of spirits, which are distilled alcoholic drinks including gin, rum, whisky, tequila and vodka. </p>   <p>The first map shows this in terms of spirits as a share of total alcohol consumption. In many Asian countries spirits account for most of total alcohol consumption. In India it is over 90%.</p>   <p>The second map shows the estimated average consumption per person. </p>   <p>Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/spirits-as-share-total-alcohol-consumption" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/spirits-consumption-per-person" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <h2>Expenditures on alcohol and alcohol consumption by income</h2>   <h3>Alcohol consumption vs. income</h3>   <p>Does alcohol consumption increase as countries get richer? </p>   <p>In the chart we see the relationship between average per capita alcohol consumption – in litres of pure alcohol per year – versus gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, across countries.</p>   <p>When we look at national averages in this way there is not a distinct relationship between income and alcohol consumption. As shown by clusters of countries (for example, Middle Eastern countries with low alcohol intake but high GDP per capita), we tend to see strong cultural patterns which tend to alter the standard income-consumption relationship we may expect.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-consumption-vs-gdp-per-capita" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <p>However, when we looking at consumption data within given countries, we sometimes do see a clear income correlation. Taking 2016 data in the UK as an example we see that people within higher income brackets tend to drink more frequently. This correlation is also likely to be influenced by other lifestyle determinants and habits; the UK ONS also report that when grouped by education status, those with a university tend to drink more in total and more frequently than those of lower education status. There are also differences when grouped by profession: individuals in managerial or professional positions tend to drink more frequently than those in intermediate or manual labour roles.{ref}ONS (2018). Adult drinking habits in Great Britain. <em>UK Office of National Statistics</em>. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/drugusealcoholandsmoking/datasets/adultdrinkinghabits.{/ref}</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-on-5-or-more-days-by-income" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <p>However, we also find correlates in drinking <em>patterns</em> when we look at groupings of income, education or work status. Although those in lower income or educational status groups often drink less overall, they are more likely to have lower-frequency, higher-intensity drinking patterns. Overall these groups drink less, but a higher percentage will drink heavily when they do.<br></p>   <h3>Alcohol expenditure</h3>   <p>This interactive chart shows the average share of household expenditure that is spent on alcohol. </p>   <p>Data on alcohol expenditure is typically limited to North America, Europe and Oceania.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-expenditure-as-share-of-total" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <h4>Alcohol expenditure over the long-term</h4>   <p>This shows the expenditure on alcohol in the United States, differentiated by where the alcohol has been purchased and consumed.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-expenditure" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <h2>The health impact of alcohol</h2>   <h3>Alcohol is responsible for 2.8 million premature deaths each year</h3>   <p>Alcohol is one of the world's largest risk factors for premature death.</p>   <p>The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in its <em>Global Burden of Disease</em> study provide estimates of the number of deaths attributed to the range of risk factors.{ref}GBD 2017 Risk Factor Collaborators. "<a href="http://www.healthdata.org/research-article/global-regional-and-national-comparative-risk-assessment-84-behavioral-0">Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.</a>" (2018).{/ref} In the visualization we see the number of deaths per year attributed to each risk factor. This chart is shown for the global total, but can be explored for any country or region using the "change country" toggle.</p>   <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor"></iframe>   <h3>Alcohol as a risk factor for mortality</h3>   <p>Alcohol consumption is a known <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#comparisons-of-risk-factors-of-death" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">risk factor</a> for a number of health conditions and potential mortality cases. Alcohol consumption has a causal impact on more than 200 health conditions (diseases and injuries).</p>   <p>In the chart we see estimates of the alcohol-attributable fraction (AAF), which is the proportion of deaths which are caused or exacerbated by alcohol (i.e. that proportion which would disappear if alcohol consumption was removed). </p>   <p>Across most countries the proportion of deaths attributed to alcohol consumption ranges from 2 to 10 percent. However, across a range of countries this share is much higher; across some countries in Eastern Europe nearly one-quarter of deaths are attributed to alcohol consumption.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-attributable-fraction-of-mortality" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <h4>Rate of premature deaths due to alcohol</h4>   <p>Shown here is the rate of premature deaths caused by alcohol.</p>   <p>Globally the rate has declined from 43 deaths per 100,000 people in the early 1990s to 35 deaths in 2017.</p>   <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/rate-of-premature-deaths-due-to-alcohol"></iframe>   <h4>Alcohol related deaths by age</h4>   <p>The chart shows the age distribution of those dying premature deaths due to alcohol.</p>   <p>Globally almost three quarters are younger than 70 years. 28% are younger than 50 years.</p>   <p>It is possible to switch this data to any other country or region in the world.</p>   <iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-attributed-to-alcohol-use-by-age"></iframe>   <h3>Alcoholism and alcohol use disorders</h3>   <p><em>Alcohol use disorder</em> (AUD) refers to drinking of alcohol that causes mental and physical health problems. </p>   <p>Alcohol use disorder, which includes alcohol dependence, is defined the WHO's <em>International Classification of Diseases</em> (available <a href="https://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/bluebook.pdf">here</a>).</p>   <p>At the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#further-reading-support" target="_blank">end of this entry</a> we provide a number of potential sources of support and guidance for those concerned about uncontrolled drinking or alcohol dependency.</p>   <p>A definite diagnosis of dependence should usually be made only if three or more of the following have been present together at some time during the previous year:</p>   <ul><li>(a) a strong desire or sense of compulsion to take the substance;</li><li>(b) difficulties in controlling substance-taking behaviour in terms of its onset, termination, or levels of use;</li><li>(c) a physiological withdrawal state when substance use has ceased or been reduced, as evidenced by: the characteristic withdrawal syndrome for the substance; or use of the same (or a closely related) substance with the intention of relieving or avoiding withdrawal symptoms;</li><li>(d) evidence of tolerance, such that increased doses of the psychoactive substance are required in order to achieve effects originally produced by lower doses (clear examples of this are found in alcohol- and opiate-dependent individuals who may take daily doses sufficient to incapacitate or kill nontolerant users);</li><li>(e) progressive neglect of alternative pleasures or interests because of psychoactive substance use, increased amount of time necessary to obtain or take the substance or to recover from its effects;</li><li>(f) persisting with substance use despite clear evidence of overtly harmful consequences, such as harm to the liver through excessive drinking, depressive mood states consequent to periods of heavy substance use, or drug-related impairment of cognitive functioning; efforts should be made to determine that the user was actually, or could be expected to be, aware of the nature and extent of the harm.</li></ul>   <p>The charts shown below present global data on the prevalence, disease burden and mortality cost of alcohol use disorders.</p>   <h4>Prevalence of alcohol use disorders</h4>   <p>It's estimated that globally around 1.4 percent of the population have an alcohol use disorder. At the country level, as shown in the chart, this ranges from around 0.5 to 5 percent of the population. In Russia, for example, the prevalence is 4.7 percent meaning that almost 1-in-20 have an alcohol dependence at any given time.</p>   <p>When we look at the variance in prevalence <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-alcohol-use-disorders-by-age" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">across age groups</a> we see that globally the prevalence is highest in those aged between 25 and 34 years old (for which around 2.5 percent of the population have an alcohol use disorder). At the extreme of country-level figures, prevalence amongst Russians aged 30-34 years old is just under 10 percent. This means 1-in-10 Russians in this age group has an alcohol dependency.</p>   <p>Globally, <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-with-alcohol-use-disorders-country" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">107 million</a> people are estimated to have an alcohol use disorder. This breakdown can be viewed by gender for any country <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-with-alcohol-use-disorders" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>; 70 percent globally (75 million) were male relative to 32 million females.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-suffering-from-alcohol-use-disorders" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-alcohol-disorders-males-vs-females" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <p>The scatter plot compares the prevalence of alcohol use disorders in males versus that of females. In 2017 — with the exception of Ukraine — the prevalence of alcohol dependence in men was higher than in women across all countries.</p>   <h4>Deaths from alcohol use disorders</h4>   <p>Deaths from alcohol dependence can occur both directly or indirectly. Indirect deaths from alcohol use disorders can occur indirectly through suicide. In our entry on <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#link-between-mental-health-and-suicide" target="_blank">Mental Health</a>, we discuss the link between mental health and substance use disorders with suicide. Although clear attribution of suicide deaths is challenging, alcohol use disorders are a known and established risk factor. It's estimated that the <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#mental-health-as-a-risk-factor-for-suicide" target="_blank">relative risk of suicide</a> in an individual with alcohol dependence is around 10 times higher than an individual without.{ref}Ferrari et al. (2015). The Burden Attributable to Mental and Substance Use Disorders as Risk Factors for Suicide: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. <em>PLOS ONE</em>. Available <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0091936#s1">online</a>.{/ref}</p>   <p>The chart shows direct death rates (not including suicide deaths) from alcohol use disorders across the world. In 2019, Belarus had the highest death rate with around 21 people per 100,000 individuals dying from alcoholism. For most countries this rate ranges from 1 to 5 deaths per 100,000 individuals.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rates-from-alcohol-use-disorders" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <p>It's estimated that globally, around 168,000 people died directly from alcohol use disorders in 2019. The total estimated number of deaths by country from 1990 to 2019 are found <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-alcohol-use-disorders" target="_blank">here</a>.<br></p>   <h4>Alcohol use disorder treatment</h4>   <p>Global data on the prevalence and effectiveness of alcohol use disorder treatment is very incomplete. </p>   <p>In the chart we see data across some countries on the share of people with an alcohol use disorder who received treatment. This data is based on estimates of prevalence and treatment published by the World Health Organization (WHO).</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-with-alcohol-use-disorders-receiving-treatment" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <h4>Alcohol use disorder vs. average alcohol intake</h4>   <p>Do countries with higher average alcohol consumption have a higher prevalence of alcohol use disorders? </p>   <p>In the chart we see prevalence of alcohol dependence versus the average per capita alcohol consumption. Overall there is not a clear relationship between the two, although there may be a slight positive correlation, particularly when viewed by region (e.g. in Europe). There is not, however, clear evidence that high overall consumption (particularly in moderate quantities) is connected to the onset of alcohol dependency.<br></p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-with-alcohol-use-disorder-vs-alcohol-consumption" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <h3>The disease burden from alcohol use disorders</h3>   <p>Measuring the health impact by mortality alone fails to capture the impact that alcohol use disorders have on an individual's wellbeing. The '<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/burden-of-disease">disease burden</a>' – measured in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) – is a considers not only mortality, but also years lived with disability or health burden. The map shows DALYs per 100,000 people which result from alcohol use disorders.</p>   <p>DALY rates differentiated by age group can be found <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/dalys-from-alcohol-use-disorders-by-age">here</a>.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-disorders-dalys-age-standardized-rate" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <h3>Risk factors for alcohol use disorders</h3>   <p>Many of the risk factors for alcohol dependency are similar to those of overall substance use disorders (including illicit drug disorders). Further discussion on these risk factors can be found at our entry on <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use#risk-factors-for-substance-use-disorders" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Substance Use</a>.</p>   <h4>Mental health disorders as a risk factor for alcohol dependency</h4>   <p>In the chart we show results from a study conducted published by Swendsen et al. (2010).{ref}Swendsen, J., Conway, K. P., Degenhardt, L., Glantz, M., Jin, R., Merikangas, K. R., … & Kessler, R. C. (2010). Mental disorders as risk factors for substance use, abuse and dependence: results from the 10‐year follow‐up of the National Comorbidity Survey. <em>Addiction</em>, <em>105</em>(6), 1117-1128. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.02902.x{/ref}</p>   <p> In this study the authors followed a cohort of more than 5000 individuals, with and without a <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health" target="_blank">mental health</a> disorder (but without a substance use disorder) over a 10-year period. Following the 10 year period they re-assessed such individuals for whether they had either a nicotine, alcohol or illicit drug dependency.{ref}Full data with confidence intervals and statistical significance can be found at our table <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health-disorders-as-risk-for-substance-use">here</a>.{/ref}</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/mental-health-as-risk-for-alcohol-dependency" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <p>The results in the chart show the increased risk of developing alcohol dependency (we show results for illicit drug dependency in our entry on <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use#mental-health-disorders-as-a-risk-factor-for-substance-dependency" target="_blank">Substance Use</a>) for someone with a given mental health disorder (relative to those without). For example, a value of 3.6 for bipolar disorder indicates that illicit drug dependency became more than three time more likely in individuals with bipolar disorder than those without. The risk of an alcohol use disorder is highest in individuals with intermittent explosive disorder, dysthymia, ODD, bipolar disorder and social phobia.</p>   <h2>Alcohol, crime, and road deaths</h2>   <h3>Alcohol-related road traffic deaths</h3>   <p>The map shows the share of all road traffic deaths attributed to alcohol consumption over the national legal limit for alcohol consumption.</p>   <p>In South Africa and Papua New Guinea more than half of all traffic deaths are attributable to alcohol consumption.</p>   <p>In the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and many European countries alcohol is responsible for around a third of all traffic deaths.</p>   <p>In the countries shown in light yellow over 90% of road deaths are not related to alcohol consumption.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/road-traffic-deaths-to-alcohol" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <h3>Alcohol-related crime</h3>   <p>Shown in this map is the share of all crimes which are considered to be alcohol-related.</p>   <p>This includes two groups of criminal offenses: </p>   <ol><li>Offenses in which the alcohol consumption is part of the crime such as driving with excess alcohol, liquor license violations, and drunkenness offenses.</li><li>Crimes in which the consumption of alcohol is thought to have played a role of some kind in the committing of the offense – including assault, criminal damage, and other public order offenses.</li></ol>   <p>The differences between countries are large: in some countries – including Iran, Chile, and Scandinavian countries – the share is well below 5%. In the UK on the other hand it is over 50%.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-related-crimes-of-all-crimes" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <h2>Definitions and Measurement</h2>   <h3>What is a standard drink measure?</h3>   <p>Whilst the World Health Organization (WHO) and most national guidelines typically quantify one unit of alcohol as equal to 10 grams of pure alcohol, the metric used as a 'standard measure' can vary across countries. Most countries across Europe use this 10 grams metric, however this can vary with several adopting 12 or 14 grams per unit.</p>   <p>In North America, a unit is typically taken as 14 grams of pure alcohol. In Japan, this is as high as 20 grams per unit.</p>   <iframe style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/standard-drink-measure" width="300" height="150"></iframe>   <h2>Data Sources</h2>   <h4>Institute of Health Metrics & Evaluation (IHME), Global Burden of Disease (GBD)</h4>   <ul><li><strong>Data</strong>: Deaths, DALYs and prevalence of substance use disorders, by age and sex</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage: </strong>Global by country and region</li><li><strong>Time span: </strong>since 1990</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool" target="_blank">http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool</a> </li></ul>   <h4>World Health Organization (WHO) International Classification of Diseases (ICD)</h4>   <p>World Health Organization. (1992). <i>The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders: clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines</i> (Vol. 1). World Health Organization.</p>   <ul><li> <strong>Data</strong>: Definitions and classifications of mental and substance use disorders</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/bluebook.pdf" target="_blank">ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders</a> </li></ul>   <h4>World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Observatory (GHO)</h4>   <ul><li> <strong>Data</strong>: Prevalence of substance use disorders, trends in alcohol consumption</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage: </strong>Global by country</li><li><strong>Time span: </strong>Variable depending on datasets. Most inconsistent years post-2000</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel="noopener" href="http://www.who.int/gho/en/">http://www.who.int/gho/en/</a> </li></ul>   <h2>Further Resources & Guidance</h2>   <h4>Alcohol Rehab Guide</h4>   <ul><li> <strong>Information</strong>: Guidance on the signs of alcoholism, unhealthy drinking behaviors, and support on where to go for help</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong> Universal guidance; support options for the United States</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/support/" target="_blank">https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/support/</a> </li></ul>   <h4>Hello Sunday Morning</h4>   <ul><li> <strong>Information</strong>: A social movement with the aim to reduce stigma around alcohol and to encourages people to consider their relationship with alcohol.</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a href="https://www.hellosundaymorning.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">HelloSundayMorning.org</a></li></ul>   <h4>Drink Aware</h4>   <ul><li> <strong>Information</strong>: List and contact details of a range of places for support on alcohol issues</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong> United Kingdom</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-support-services/" target="_blank">https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-support-services/</a> </li></ul>   <h4>Alcohol Help Center</h4>   <ul><li> <strong>Information</strong>: Free guidance, support and discussion groups on concerns related to alcohol</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong>  Global</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.alcoholhelpcenter.net/" target="_blank">http://www.alcoholhelpcenter.net/</a> </li></ul>   <h4>Rethinking Drinking</h4>   <ul><li><strong>Information</strong>: Test to assess your drinking patterns relative to the US population</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong>  Global; assesses relative to US drinking patterns</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.rethinkingdrinking.niaaa.nih.gov/How-much-is-too-much/Is-your-drinking-pattern-risky/Whats-Your-Pattern.aspx" target="_blank">What's your drinking pattern?</a> </li></ul>   <h4>Rehab 4 Addiction</h4>   <ul><li><strong>Information</strong>: An advisory and referral service for people who suffer from alcohol, drug, and behavioral addiction.</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong>  Universal guidance; support options for the United Kingdom</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong><a href="https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/</a> </li></ul>

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                        "text": ".{ref}74% of those who die are younger than 70 years.{/ref}",
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                        "text": "Heavy episodic drinking is defined as the proportion of adult drinkers who have had at least 60 grams or more of pure alcohol on at least one occasion in the past 30 days. An intake of 60 grams of pure alcohol is approximately equal to 6 ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    },
                    {
                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#what-is-a-standard-drink-measure",
                        "children": [
                            {
                                "text": "standard alcoholic drinks",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "spanType": "span-link"
                    },
                    {
                        "text": ". The map shows heavy drinkers \u2013 those who had an episode of heavy drinking in the previous 30 days \u2013 as a share of total drinkers (i.e those who have drunk less than one alcohol drink in the last 12 months are excluded).",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "The comparison of this map with the previous maps makes clear that heavy drinking is not necessarily most common in the same countries where alcohol consumption is most common.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "Data on the prevalence of binge-drinking by age and gender in the UK can be found ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    },
                    {
                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-drinkers-who-binged",
                        "children": [
                            {
                                "text": "here",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "spanType": "span-link"
                    },
                    {
                        "text": "; and trends in heavy and binge-drinking in the USA ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    },
                    {
                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-drank-usa",
                        "children": [
                            {
                                "text": "here",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "spanType": "span-link"
                    },
                    {
                        "text": ".",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/drinkers-had-a-heavy-session-in-past-30-days",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "Share of adults who don't drink alcohol",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 3,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "Global trends on alcohol abstinence show a mirror image of drinking prevalence data. This is shown in the charts as the share of adults who had not drunk in the prior year, and those who have never drunk alcohol. ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "Here we see particularly high levels of alcohol abstinence across North Africa and the Middle East. In most countries in this region, more than 80 percent (often more than 90 percent) have never drunk alcohol.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-have-not-drank-alcohol-in-last-year",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-population-who-never-drink-alcohol",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "Data on the share who don't drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK is available ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    },
                    {
                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-dont-drink-alcohol",
                        "children": [
                            {
                                "text": "here",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "spanType": "span-link"
                    },
                    {
                        "text": ".",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "horizontal-rule",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "Historical perspective on alcohol consumption",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 1,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "horizontal-rule",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "Total alcohol consumption over the long-run",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 3,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "The chart shows alcohol consumption since 1890 in a number of countries.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "Across these high-income countries the annual average today lies between 5.6 liters in Japan and 10.4 liters in Austria.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "A century ago some countries had much higher levels of alcohol consumption. In France in the 1920s the average was 22.1 liters of pure alcohol per person per year. This equals 184 one liter wine bottles per person per year.{ref}22.1 liters per person in France equals 22.1l / 0.12l = 184 bottles per year.{/ref} Note that in contrast to the modern statistics that are expressed in alcohol consumption per person older than 15 years, this includes children as well \u2013 the average alcohol consumption per adult was therefore even higher.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-alcohol-1890",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "Alcohol consumption by type of alcoholic beverage",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 3,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "This chart shows the change in consumption of alcoholic beverages. ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "By default the data for Italy is shown \u2013 here the share of beer consumption increased and now makes up almost a quarter of alcohol consumption in Italy.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "With the change country feature it is possible to view the same data for other countries. Sweden for example increased the share of wine consumption and therefore reduced the share of spirits.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-by-type-1890",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "Alcohol consumption in the United States since 1850",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 3,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "Long-run data on alcohol consumption from the United States gives us one perspective of drinking since 1850. In the chart we see the average consumption (in litres of ethanol) of different beverage types per person in the USA from 1850 through to 2013.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "Over this long time period we see that per capita drinking quantities have been relatively constant\u00a0\u2014 typically averaging around 8 to 9 litres per year. Over the period 1920-1933,\u00a0there was a ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States (known as the 'National Alcohol Prohibition'). Since the statistics here reflect reported sales and consumption statistics, they assume zero consumption of alcohol over this time. However, there is evidence that alcohol consumption continued through black market and illegal sales, particularly in the sales of spirits. It's estimated that at the beginning of Prohibition alcohol consumption decreased to approximately 30 percent of pre-prohibition levels, but slowly increased to 60-70 percent by the end of the period.{ref}Miron & Zwiebel (1991).\u00a0Alcohol Consumption During Prohibition.\u00a0",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    },
                    {
                        "children": [
                            {
                                "text": "The\u00a0American Economic Review",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "spanType": "span-italic"
                    },
                    {
                        "text": ", Vol. 81, No. 2, pp. 242-247, (May 1991). Available ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    },
                    {
                        "url": "http://www.nber.org/papers/w3675",
                        "children": [
                            {
                                "text": "online",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "spanType": "span-link"
                    },
                    {
                        "text": ".{/ref}",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "As we see, following prohibition, levels of alcohol consumption returned to the similar levels as in the pre-prohibition period.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-consumption-per-person-us",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "Global beer consumption",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 2,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "The charts show global consumption of beer, first in terms of beer as a share of total alcohol consumption, and then the estimated average consumption per person. ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Beer contains around 5% of pure alcohol per volume{ref}Alcohol.org has ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    },
                    {
                        "url": "https://www.alcohol.org/statistics-information/abv/",
                        "children": [
                            {
                                "text": "this overview",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "spanType": "span-link"
                    },
                    {
                        "text": " of the range of alcohol by volume of beer, wine, & liquor.{/ref} so that one liter of beer contains 0.05 liters of pure alcohol. This means that 5 liters of pure alcohol equals 100 liters of beer.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/beer-as-share-alcohol-consumption",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/beer-consumption-per-person",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "Global wine consumption",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 2,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "The charts show global consumption of wine, first in terms of wine as a share of total alcohol consumption, and then the estimated average consumption per person. ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Wine contains around 12% of pure alcohol per volume so that one liter of wine contains 0.12 liters of pure alcohol.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wine-as-share-alcohol-consumption",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wine-consumption-per-person",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "Global consumption of spirits",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 2,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "The charts show global consumption of spirits, which are distilled alcoholic drinks including gin, rum, whisky, tequila and vodka. ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "The first map shows this in terms of spirits as a share of total alcohol consumption. In many Asian countries spirits account for most of total alcohol consumption. In India it is over 90%.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "The second map shows the estimated average consumption per person. ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/spirits-as-share-total-alcohol-consumption",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/spirits-consumption-per-person",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "horizontal-rule",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "Expenditures on alcohol and alcohol consumption by income",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 1,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "horizontal-rule",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "Alcohol consumption vs. income",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 2,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "Does alcohol consumption increase as countries get richer? ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "In the chart we see the relationship between average per capita alcohol consumption \u2013 in litres of pure alcohol per year \u2013 versus gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, across countries.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "When we look at national averages in this way there is not a distinct relationship between income and alcohol consumption. As shown by clusters of countries (for example, Middle Eastern countries with low alcohol intake but high GDP per capita), we tend to see strong cultural patterns which tend to alter the standard income-consumption relationship we may expect.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-consumption-vs-gdp-per-capita",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "However, when we looking at consumption data within given countries, we sometimes do see a clear income correlation. Taking 2016 data in the UK as an example we see that people within higher income brackets tend to drink more frequently. This correlation is also likely to be influenced by other lifestyle determinants and habits; the UK ONS also report that when grouped by education status, those with a university tend to drink more in total and more frequently than those of lower education status. There are also differences when grouped by profession: individuals in managerial or professional positions tend to drink more frequently than those in intermediate or manual labour roles.{ref}ONS (2018). Adult drinking habits in Great Britain. ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    },
                    {
                        "children": [
                            {
                                "text": "UK Office of National Statistics",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "spanType": "span-italic"
                    },
                    {
                        "text": ". Available at:\u00a0https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/drugusealcoholandsmoking/datasets/adultdrinkinghabits.{/ref}",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-on-5-or-more-days-by-income",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "However, we also find correlates in drinking\u00a0",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    },
                    {
                        "children": [
                            {
                                "text": "patterns",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "spanType": "span-italic"
                    },
                    {
                        "text": " when we look at groupings of income, education or work status. Although those in lower income or educational status groups often drink less overall, they are more likely to have lower-frequency, higher-intensity drinking patterns. Overall these groups drink less, but a higher percentage will drink heavily when they do.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    },
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                        "spanType": "span-newline"
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                ],
                "parseErrors": []
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            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "Alcohol expenditure",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 2,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "This interactive chart shows the average share of household expenditure that is spent on alcohol. ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "Data on alcohol expenditure is typically limited to North America, Europe and Oceania.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-expenditure-as-share-of-total",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "Alcohol expenditure over the long-term",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 3,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "This shows the expenditure on alcohol in the United States, differentiated by where the alcohol has been purchased and consumed.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-expenditure",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "horizontal-rule",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "The health impact of alcohol",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 1,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "horizontal-rule",
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            },
            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "Alcohol is responsible for 2.8 million premature deaths each year",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 2,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "Alcohol is one of the world's largest risk factors for premature death.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in its ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    },
                    {
                        "children": [
                            {
                                "text": "Global Burden of Disease",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "spanType": "span-italic"
                    },
                    {
                        "text": " study provide estimates of the number of deaths attributed to the range of risk factors.{ref}GBD 2017 Risk Factor Collaborators. \"",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    },
                    {
                        "url": "http://www.healthdata.org/research-article/global-regional-and-national-comparative-risk-assessment-84-behavioral-0",
                        "children": [
                            {
                                "text": "Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "spanType": "span-link"
                    },
                    {
                        "text": "\" (2018).{/ref} In the visualization we see the number of deaths per year attributed to each risk factor. This chart is shown for the global total, but can be explored for any country or region using the \"change country\" toggle.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "Alcohol as a risk factor for mortality",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 2,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "Alcohol consumption is a known ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    },
                    {
                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#comparisons-of-risk-factors-of-death",
                        "children": [
                            {
                                "text": "risk factor",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                            }
                        ],
                        "spanType": "span-link"
                    },
                    {
                        "text": " for a number of health conditions and potential mortality cases.\u00a0Alcohol consumption has a causal impact on more than 200 health conditions (diseases and injuries).",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "In the chart we see estimates of the alcohol-attributable fraction (AAF), which is the proportion of deaths which are caused or exacerbated by alcohol (i.e. that proportion which would disappear if alcohol consumption was removed). ",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "Across most countries the proportion of deaths attributed to alcohol consumption ranges from 2 to 10 percent. However, across a range of countries this share is much higher; across some countries in Eastern Europe nearly one-quarter of deaths are attributed to alcohol consumption.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-attributable-fraction-of-mortality",
                "type": "chart",
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "text": [
                    {
                        "text": "Rate of premature deaths due to alcohol",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "type": "heading",
                "level": 3,
                "parseErrors": []
            },
            {
                "type": "text",
                "value": [
                    {
                        "text": "Shown here is the rate of premature deaths caused by alcohol.",
                        "spanType": "span-simple-text"
                    }
                ],
                "parseErrors": []
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                "value": [
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                        "text": "Globally the rate has declined from 43 deaths per 100,000 people in the early 1990s to 35 deaths in 2017.",
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                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/rate-of-premature-deaths-due-to-alcohol",
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                "text": [
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                        "text": "Alcohol related deaths by age",
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                        "text": "The chart shows the age distribution of those dying premature deaths due to alcohol.",
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                        "text": "Globally almost three quarters are younger than 70 years. 28% are younger than 50 years.",
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                        "text": "It is possible to switch this data to any other country or region in the world.",
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                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-attributed-to-alcohol-use-by-age",
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                "text": [
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                        "text": "Alcoholism and alcohol use disorders",
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                    {
                        "text": "\u00a0(AUD) refers to drinking of alcohol\u00a0that causes mental and physical health problems.\u00a0",
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                        "text": "Alcohol use disorder, which includes alcohol dependence, is defined the WHO's ",
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                        "children": [
                            {
                                "text": "International Classification of Diseases",
                                "spanType": "span-simple-text"
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                    {
                        "text": " (available ",
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                        "url": "https://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/bluebook.pdf",
                        "children": [
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                                "text": "here",
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                        "text": ").",
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                        "text": "At the ",
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                                "text": "end of this entry",
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                        "text": " we provide a number of potential sources of support and guidance for those concerned about uncontrolled drinking or alcohol dependency.",
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                        "text": "A definite diagnosis of dependence should usually be made only if three or more of the following have been present together at some time during the previous year:",
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                                "text": "(a) a strong desire or sense of compulsion to take the substance;",
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                                "text": "(b) difficulties in controlling substance-taking behaviour in terms of its onset, termination, or levels of use;",
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                                "text": "(c) a physiological withdrawal state when substance use has ceased or been reduced, as evidenced by: the characteristic withdrawal syndrome for the substance; or use of the same (or a closely related) substance with the intention of relieving or avoiding withdrawal symptoms;",
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                                "text": "(d) evidence of tolerance, such that increased doses of the psychoactive substance are required in order to achieve effects originally produced by lower doses (clear examples of this are found in alcohol- and opiate-dependent individuals who may take daily doses sufficient to incapacitate or kill nontolerant users);",
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                                "text": "(e) progressive neglect of alternative pleasures or interests because of psychoactive substance use, increased amount of time necessary to obtain or take the substance or to recover from its effects;",
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                                "text": "(f) persisting with substance use despite clear evidence of overtly harmful consequences, such as harm to the liver through excessive drinking, depressive mood states consequent to periods of heavy substance use, or drug-related impairment of cognitive functioning; efforts should be made to determine that the user was actually, or could be expected to be, aware of the nature and extent of the harm.",
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                        "text": "The charts shown below present global data on the prevalence, disease burden and mortality cost of alcohol use disorders.",
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                "text": [
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                        "text": "Prevalence of alcohol use disorders",
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                        "text": "It's estimated that globally around 1.4 percent of the population have an alcohol use disorder. At the country level, as shown in the chart, this ranges from around 0.5 to 5 percent of the population. In Russia, for example, the prevalence is 4.7 percent meaning that almost 1-in-20 have an alcohol dependence at any given time.",
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                        "text": "When we look at the variance in prevalence ",
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                                "text": "across age groups",
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                        "text": "\u00a0we see that globally the prevalence is highest in those aged between 25 and 34 years old (for which around 2.5 percent of the population have an alcohol use disorder). At the extreme of country-level figures, prevalence amongst Russians aged 30-34 years old is just under 10 percent. This means 1-in-10 Russians in this age group has an alcohol dependency.",
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                        "text": "Globally, ",
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                                "text": "107 million",
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                    {
                        "text": " people are estimated to have an alcohol use disorder. This breakdown can be viewed by gender for any country ",
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                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-with-alcohol-use-disorders",
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                                "text": "here",
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                        "text": "; 70 percent globally (75 million) were male relative to 32 million females.",
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                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-suffering-from-alcohol-use-disorders",
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                "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-alcohol-disorders-males-vs-females",
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                "value": [
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                        "text": "The scatter plot compares the prevalence of alcohol use disorders in males versus that of females. In 2017 \u2014 with the exception of Ukraine \u2014 the prevalence of alcohol dependence in men was higher than in women across all countries.",
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                "text": [
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                        "text": "Deaths from alcohol use disorders",
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                        "text": "Deaths from alcohol dependence can occur both directly or indirectly. Indirect deaths from alcohol use disorders can occur indirectly through suicide. In our entry on ",
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                    {
                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#link-between-mental-health-and-suicide",
                        "children": [
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                                "text": "Mental Health",
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                        "text": ", we discuss the link between mental health and substance use disorders with suicide. Although clear attribution of suicide deaths is challenging, alcohol use disorders are a known and established risk factor. It's estimated that the ",
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                    },
                    {
                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#mental-health-as-a-risk-factor-for-suicide",
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                                "text": "relative risk of suicide",
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                        "text": " in an individual with alcohol dependence is around 10 times higher than an individual without.{ref}Ferrari et al. (2015). The Burden Attributable to Mental and Substance Use Disorders as Risk Factors for Suicide: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010.\u00a0",
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                        "children": [
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                                "text": "PLOS ONE",
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                    {
                        "text": ". Available\u00a0",
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                        "url": "http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0091936#s1",
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                                "text": "online",
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                        "text": ".{/ref}",
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                        "text": "The chart shows direct death rates (not including suicide deaths) from alcohol use disorders across the world. In 2019, Belarus had the highest death rate with around 21 people per 100,000 individuals dying from alcoholism. For most countries this rate ranges from 1 to 5 deaths per 100,000 individuals.",
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                        "text": "It's estimated that globally, around 168,000 people died directly from alcohol use disorders in 2019. The total estimated number of deaths by country from 1990 to 2019 are found ",
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                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-alcohol-use-disorders",
                        "children": [
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                                "text": "here",
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                        "text": ".",
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                "text": [
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                        "text": "Alcohol use disorder treatment",
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                        "text": "Global data on the prevalence and effectiveness of alcohol use disorder treatment is very incomplete. ",
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                        "text": "In the chart we see data across some countries on the share of people with an alcohol use disorder who received treatment. This data is based on estimates of prevalence and treatment published by the World Health Organization (WHO).",
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                        "text": "Alcohol use disorder vs. average alcohol intake",
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                        "text": "Do countries with higher average alcohol consumption have a higher prevalence of alcohol use disorders? ",
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                        "text": "In the chart we see prevalence of alcohol dependence versus the average per capita alcohol consumption. Overall there is not a clear relationship between the two, although there may be a slight positive correlation, particularly when viewed by region (e.g. in Europe). There is not, however, clear evidence that high overall consumption (particularly in moderate quantities) is connected to the onset of alcohol dependency.",
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                        "text": "The disease burden from alcohol use disorders",
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                        "text": "Measuring the health impact by mortality alone fails to capture the impact that alcohol use disorders have on an individual's wellbeing. The '",
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                        "text": "' \u2013 measured in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) \u2013 is a considers not only mortality, but also years lived with disability or health burden. The map shows DALYs per 100,000 people which result from alcohol use disorders.",
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                        "text": "DALY rates differentiated by age group can be found ",
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                        "text": ".",
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                        "text": "Risk factors for alcohol use disorders",
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                        "text": "Many of the risk factors for alcohol dependency are similar to those of overall substance use disorders (including illicit drug disorders). Further discussion on these risk factors can be found at our entry on ",
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                        "url": "https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use#risk-factors-for-substance-use-disorders",
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                                "text": "Substance Use",
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                        "text": ".",
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                        "text": "Mental health disorders as a risk factor for alcohol dependency",
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                        "text": "In the chart we show results from a study conducted published by Swendsen et al. (2010).{ref}Swendsen, J., Conway, K. P., Degenhardt, L., Glantz, M., Jin, R., Merikangas, K. R., \u2026 & Kessler, R. C. (2010). Mental disorders as risk factors for substance use, abuse and dependence: results from the 10\u2010year follow\u2010up of the National Comorbidity Survey.\u00a0",
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                                "text": "Addiction",
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                        "text": ",\u00a0",
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                                "text": "105",
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                        "text": "(6), 1117-1128. Available at:\u00a0https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.02902.x{/ref}",
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                        "text": " In this study the authors followed a cohort of more than 5000 individuals, with and without a ",
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                        "text": " disorder (but without a substance use disorder) over a 10-year period. Following the 10 year period they re-assessed such individuals for whether they had either a nicotine, alcohol or illicit drug dependency.{ref}Full data with confidence intervals and statistical significance can be found at our table ",
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                        "text": "The results in the chart show the increased risk of developing alcohol dependency (we show results for illicit drug dependency in our entry on ",
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                        "text": ") for someone with a given mental health disorder (relative to those without). For example, a value of 3.6 for bipolar disorder indicates that illicit drug dependency became more than three time more likely in individuals with bipolar disorder than those without. The risk of an alcohol use disorder is highest in individuals with intermittent explosive disorder, dysthymia, ODD, bipolar disorder and social phobia.",
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                        "text": "The map shows the share of all road traffic deaths attributed to alcohol consumption over the national legal limit for alcohol consumption.",
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                        "text": "In South Africa and Papua New Guinea more than half of all traffic deaths are attributable to alcohol consumption.",
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                        "text": "In the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and many European countries alcohol is responsible for around a third of all traffic deaths.",
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                        "text": "In the countries shown in light yellow over 90% of road deaths are not related to alcohol consumption.",
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2018-04-16 20:06:41

2024-03-19 18:38:16

[
    "Hannah Ritchie"
]

Who consumes the most alcohol? How has consumption changed over time? And what are the health impacts?

2019-11-13 10:19:41

2023-11-01 08:53:00

https://ourworldindata.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/total-alcohol-consumption-per-capita-litres-of-pure-alcohol-3.png

{}

This article was first published in April 2018. It was revised in January 2022. Alcohol has historically, and continues to, hold an important role in social engagement and bonding for many. Social drinking or moderate alcohol consumption for many is pleasurable. However, alcohol consumption – especially in excess – is linked to a number of negative outcomes: as a risk factor for diseases and health impacts; crime; road incidents; and for some, alcohol dependence. Globally alcohol consumption causes [2.8 million premature deaths per year](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor).{ref}74% of those who die are younger than 70 years.{/ref} This entry looks at the data on global patterns of alcohol consumption, patterns of drinking, beverage types, the prevalence of alcoholism; and consequences, including crime, mortality and road incidents. **Related entries:** Data on other drug use can be found at our full entry [here](https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use). Drug Use disorders are often classified within the same category as mental health disorders — research and data on mental health can be found at our entry [here](https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health). **Support for alcohol dependency** At the end of this entry you will [find additional resources](https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#further-resources-guidance) and guidance if you, or someone you know needs support in dealing with alcohol dependency. **[See all interactive charts on alcohol consumption ↓](#all-charts)** --- # Alcohol consumption across the world today --- This interactive map shows the annual average alcohol consumption of alcohol, expressed per person aged 15 years or older. To account for the differences in alcohol content of different alcoholic drinks (e.g. beer, wine, spirits), this is reported in liters of pure alcohol per year. The global average consumption was 6.17 liters per person in 2018. To make this average more understandable we can express it in bottles of wine. Wine contains around 12% of pure alcohol per volume{ref}Alcohol.org has [this overview](https://www.alcohol.org/statistics-information/abv/) of the range of alcohol by volume of beer, wine, & liquor.{/ref} so that one liter of wine contains 0.12 liters of pure alcohol. The global average of 6.2 liters of pure alcohol per person per year therefore equals 53 bottles of wine per person older than 15. Or to make it more memorable, around 1 liter of wine per week. As the map shows, the average per capita alcohol consumption varies widely across the world. We see large geographical differences: Alcohol consumption across North Africa and the Middle East is particularly low — in many countries, close to zero. At the upper end of the scale, alcohol intake across Europe is highest at around 15 liters per person per year in Czechia. This equals around two bottles of wine per person per week. Only slightly behind the Eastern European countries are Western European countries – including Germany, France, Portugal, Ireland, and Belgium – at around 12 to 14 liters. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-alcohol-consumption-per-capita-litres-of-pure-alcohol"/> ### Share of adults who drink alcohol This interactive map shows the share of adults who drink alcohol. This is given as the share of adults, aged 15 years and older, who have drunk alcohol within the previous year. In many countries the majority of adults drink some alcohol. Across Europe, for example, more than two-thirds do in most countries. Again, the prevalence of drinking across North Africa and the Middle East is notably lower than elsewhere. Typically 5 to 10 percent of adults across these regions drunk within the preceding year, and in a number of countries this was below 5 percent. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-adults-who-drank-alcohol-in-last-year"/> ### Alcohol consumption by sex When we look at gender differences we see that in all countries men are more likely to drink than women. This gender difference appears to be lowest in countries where the overall prevalence of drinking high. Where drinking prevalence is low-to-mid range, the prevalence of drinking in women tends to be significantly lower – often it is less than half the rate of men. Data on the share who drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK is available [here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-alcohol-last-week). <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/males-vs-females-who-drank-alcohol-in-last-year"/> ### Heavy drinking sessions Alcohol consumption – whilst a risk factor for a number of health outcomes – typically has the greatest negative impacts when consumed within heavy sessions. This pattern of drinking is often termed 'binging', where individuals consume large amounts of alcohol within a single session versus small quantities more frequently. Heavy episodic drinking is defined as the proportion of adult drinkers who have had at least 60 grams or more of pure alcohol on at least one occasion in the past 30 days. An intake of 60 grams of pure alcohol is approximately equal to 6 [standard alcoholic drinks](https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#what-is-a-standard-drink-measure). The map shows heavy drinkers – those who had an episode of heavy drinking in the previous 30 days – as a share of total drinkers (i.e those who have drunk less than one alcohol drink in the last 12 months are excluded). The comparison of this map with the previous maps makes clear that heavy drinking is not necessarily most common in the same countries where alcohol consumption is most common. Data on the prevalence of binge-drinking by age and gender in the UK can be found [here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-drinkers-who-binged); and trends in heavy and binge-drinking in the USA [here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-drank-usa). <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/drinkers-had-a-heavy-session-in-past-30-days"/> ### Share of adults who don't drink alcohol Global trends on alcohol abstinence show a mirror image of drinking prevalence data. This is shown in the charts as the share of adults who had not drunk in the prior year, and those who have never drunk alcohol. Here we see particularly high levels of alcohol abstinence across North Africa and the Middle East. In most countries in this region, more than 80 percent (often more than 90 percent) have never drunk alcohol. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-have-not-drank-alcohol-in-last-year"/> <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-population-who-never-drink-alcohol"/> Data on the share who don't drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK is available [here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-dont-drink-alcohol). --- # Historical perspective on alcohol consumption --- ### Total alcohol consumption over the long-run The chart shows alcohol consumption since 1890 in a number of countries. Across these high-income countries the annual average today lies between 5.6 liters in Japan and 10.4 liters in Austria. A century ago some countries had much higher levels of alcohol consumption. In France in the 1920s the average was 22.1 liters of pure alcohol per person per year. This equals 184 one liter wine bottles per person per year.{ref}22.1 liters per person in France equals 22.1l / 0.12l = 184 bottles per year.{/ref} Note that in contrast to the modern statistics that are expressed in alcohol consumption per person older than 15 years, this includes children as well – the average alcohol consumption per adult was therefore even higher. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-alcohol-1890"/> ### Alcohol consumption by type of alcoholic beverage This chart shows the change in consumption of alcoholic beverages. By default the data for Italy is shown – here the share of beer consumption increased and now makes up almost a quarter of alcohol consumption in Italy. With the change country feature it is possible to view the same data for other countries. Sweden for example increased the share of wine consumption and therefore reduced the share of spirits. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-by-type-1890"/> ### Alcohol consumption in the United States since 1850 Long-run data on alcohol consumption from the United States gives us one perspective of drinking since 1850. In the chart we see the average consumption (in litres of ethanol) of different beverage types per person in the USA from 1850 through to 2013. Over this long time period we see that per capita drinking quantities have been relatively constant — typically averaging around 8 to 9 litres per year. Over the period 1920-1933, there was a ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States (known as the 'National Alcohol Prohibition'). Since the statistics here reflect reported sales and consumption statistics, they assume zero consumption of alcohol over this time. However, there is evidence that alcohol consumption continued through black market and illegal sales, particularly in the sales of spirits. It's estimated that at the beginning of Prohibition alcohol consumption decreased to approximately 30 percent of pre-prohibition levels, but slowly increased to 60-70 percent by the end of the period.{ref}Miron & Zwiebel (1991). Alcohol Consumption During Prohibition. _The American Economic Review_, Vol. 81, No. 2, pp. 242-247, (May 1991). Available [online](http://www.nber.org/papers/w3675).{/ref} As we see, following prohibition, levels of alcohol consumption returned to the similar levels as in the pre-prohibition period. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-consumption-per-person-us"/> ## Global beer consumption The charts show global consumption of beer, first in terms of beer as a share of total alcohol consumption, and then the estimated average consumption per person. Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Beer contains around 5% of pure alcohol per volume{ref}Alcohol.org has [this overview](https://www.alcohol.org/statistics-information/abv/) of the range of alcohol by volume of beer, wine, & liquor.{/ref} so that one liter of beer contains 0.05 liters of pure alcohol. This means that 5 liters of pure alcohol equals 100 liters of beer. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/beer-as-share-alcohol-consumption"/> <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/beer-consumption-per-person"/> ## Global wine consumption The charts show global consumption of wine, first in terms of wine as a share of total alcohol consumption, and then the estimated average consumption per person. Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Wine contains around 12% of pure alcohol per volume so that one liter of wine contains 0.12 liters of pure alcohol. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wine-as-share-alcohol-consumption"/> <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wine-consumption-per-person"/> ## Global consumption of spirits The charts show global consumption of spirits, which are distilled alcoholic drinks including gin, rum, whisky, tequila and vodka. The first map shows this in terms of spirits as a share of total alcohol consumption. In many Asian countries spirits account for most of total alcohol consumption. In India it is over 90%. The second map shows the estimated average consumption per person. Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/spirits-as-share-total-alcohol-consumption"/> <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/spirits-consumption-per-person"/> --- # Expenditures on alcohol and alcohol consumption by income --- ## Alcohol consumption vs. income Does alcohol consumption increase as countries get richer? In the chart we see the relationship between average per capita alcohol consumption – in litres of pure alcohol per year – versus gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, across countries. When we look at national averages in this way there is not a distinct relationship between income and alcohol consumption. As shown by clusters of countries (for example, Middle Eastern countries with low alcohol intake but high GDP per capita), we tend to see strong cultural patterns which tend to alter the standard income-consumption relationship we may expect. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-consumption-vs-gdp-per-capita"/> However, when we looking at consumption data within given countries, we sometimes do see a clear income correlation. Taking 2016 data in the UK as an example we see that people within higher income brackets tend to drink more frequently. This correlation is also likely to be influenced by other lifestyle determinants and habits; the UK ONS also report that when grouped by education status, those with a university tend to drink more in total and more frequently than those of lower education status. There are also differences when grouped by profession: individuals in managerial or professional positions tend to drink more frequently than those in intermediate or manual labour roles.{ref}ONS (2018). Adult drinking habits in Great Britain. _UK Office of National Statistics_. Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/drugusealcoholandsmoking/datasets/adultdrinkinghabits.{/ref} <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-on-5-or-more-days-by-income"/> However, we also find correlates in drinking _patterns_ when we look at groupings of income, education or work status. Although those in lower income or educational status groups often drink less overall, they are more likely to have lower-frequency, higher-intensity drinking patterns. Overall these groups drink less, but a higher percentage will drink heavily when they do. ## Alcohol expenditure This interactive chart shows the average share of household expenditure that is spent on alcohol. Data on alcohol expenditure is typically limited to North America, Europe and Oceania. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-expenditure-as-share-of-total"/> ### Alcohol expenditure over the long-term This shows the expenditure on alcohol in the United States, differentiated by where the alcohol has been purchased and consumed. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-expenditure"/> --- # The health impact of alcohol --- ## Alcohol is responsible for 2.8 million premature deaths each year Alcohol is one of the world's largest risk factors for premature death. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in its _Global Burden of Disease_ study provide estimates of the number of deaths attributed to the range of risk factors.{ref}GBD 2017 Risk Factor Collaborators. "[Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.](http://www.healthdata.org/research-article/global-regional-and-national-comparative-risk-assessment-84-behavioral-0)" (2018).{/ref} In the visualization we see the number of deaths per year attributed to each risk factor. This chart is shown for the global total, but can be explored for any country or region using the "change country" toggle. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor"/> ## Alcohol as a risk factor for mortality Alcohol consumption is a known [risk factor](https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#comparisons-of-risk-factors-of-death) for a number of health conditions and potential mortality cases. Alcohol consumption has a causal impact on more than 200 health conditions (diseases and injuries). In the chart we see estimates of the alcohol-attributable fraction (AAF), which is the proportion of deaths which are caused or exacerbated by alcohol (i.e. that proportion which would disappear if alcohol consumption was removed). Across most countries the proportion of deaths attributed to alcohol consumption ranges from 2 to 10 percent. However, across a range of countries this share is much higher; across some countries in Eastern Europe nearly one-quarter of deaths are attributed to alcohol consumption. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-attributable-fraction-of-mortality"/> ### Rate of premature deaths due to alcohol Shown here is the rate of premature deaths caused by alcohol. Globally the rate has declined from 43 deaths per 100,000 people in the early 1990s to 35 deaths in 2017. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/rate-of-premature-deaths-due-to-alcohol"/> ### Alcohol related deaths by age The chart shows the age distribution of those dying premature deaths due to alcohol. Globally almost three quarters are younger than 70 years. 28% are younger than 50 years. It is possible to switch this data to any other country or region in the world. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-attributed-to-alcohol-use-by-age"/> ## Alcoholism and alcohol use disorders _Alcohol use disorder_ (AUD) refers to drinking of alcohol that causes mental and physical health problems. Alcohol use disorder, which includes alcohol dependence, is defined the WHO's _International Classification of Diseases_ (available [here](https://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/bluebook.pdf)). At the [end of this entry](https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#further-reading-support) we provide a number of potential sources of support and guidance for those concerned about uncontrolled drinking or alcohol dependency. A definite diagnosis of dependence should usually be made only if three or more of the following have been present together at some time during the previous year: * (a) a strong desire or sense of compulsion to take the substance; * (b) difficulties in controlling substance-taking behaviour in terms of its onset, termination, or levels of use; * (c) a physiological withdrawal state when substance use has ceased or been reduced, as evidenced by: the characteristic withdrawal syndrome for the substance; or use of the same (or a closely related) substance with the intention of relieving or avoiding withdrawal symptoms; * (d) evidence of tolerance, such that increased doses of the psychoactive substance are required in order to achieve effects originally produced by lower doses (clear examples of this are found in alcohol- and opiate-dependent individuals who may take daily doses sufficient to incapacitate or kill nontolerant users); * (e) progressive neglect of alternative pleasures or interests because of psychoactive substance use, increased amount of time necessary to obtain or take the substance or to recover from its effects; * (f) persisting with substance use despite clear evidence of overtly harmful consequences, such as harm to the liver through excessive drinking, depressive mood states consequent to periods of heavy substance use, or drug-related impairment of cognitive functioning; efforts should be made to determine that the user was actually, or could be expected to be, aware of the nature and extent of the harm. The charts shown below present global data on the prevalence, disease burden and mortality cost of alcohol use disorders. ### Prevalence of alcohol use disorders It's estimated that globally around 1.4 percent of the population have an alcohol use disorder. At the country level, as shown in the chart, this ranges from around 0.5 to 5 percent of the population. In Russia, for example, the prevalence is 4.7 percent meaning that almost 1-in-20 have an alcohol dependence at any given time. When we look at the variance in prevalence [across age groups](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-alcohol-use-disorders-by-age) we see that globally the prevalence is highest in those aged between 25 and 34 years old (for which around 2.5 percent of the population have an alcohol use disorder). At the extreme of country-level figures, prevalence amongst Russians aged 30-34 years old is just under 10 percent. This means 1-in-10 Russians in this age group has an alcohol dependency. Globally, [107 million](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-with-alcohol-use-disorders-country) people are estimated to have an alcohol use disorder. This breakdown can be viewed by gender for any country [here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-with-alcohol-use-disorders); 70 percent globally (75 million) were male relative to 32 million females. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-suffering-from-alcohol-use-disorders"/> <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-alcohol-disorders-males-vs-females"/> The scatter plot compares the prevalence of alcohol use disorders in males versus that of females. In 2017 — with the exception of Ukraine — the prevalence of alcohol dependence in men was higher than in women across all countries. ### Deaths from alcohol use disorders Deaths from alcohol dependence can occur both directly or indirectly. Indirect deaths from alcohol use disorders can occur indirectly through suicide. In our entry on [Mental Health](https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#link-between-mental-health-and-suicide), we discuss the link between mental health and substance use disorders with suicide. Although clear attribution of suicide deaths is challenging, alcohol use disorders are a known and established risk factor. It's estimated that the [relative risk of suicide](https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#mental-health-as-a-risk-factor-for-suicide) in an individual with alcohol dependence is around 10 times higher than an individual without.{ref}Ferrari et al. (2015). The Burden Attributable to Mental and Substance Use Disorders as Risk Factors for Suicide: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. _PLOS ONE_. Available [online](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0091936#s1).{/ref} The chart shows direct death rates (not including suicide deaths) from alcohol use disorders across the world. In 2019, Belarus had the highest death rate with around 21 people per 100,000 individuals dying from alcoholism. For most countries this rate ranges from 1 to 5 deaths per 100,000 individuals. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rates-from-alcohol-use-disorders"/> It's estimated that globally, around 168,000 people died directly from alcohol use disorders in 2019. The total estimated number of deaths by country from 1990 to 2019 are found [here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-alcohol-use-disorders). ### Alcohol use disorder treatment Global data on the prevalence and effectiveness of alcohol use disorder treatment is very incomplete. In the chart we see data across some countries on the share of people with an alcohol use disorder who received treatment. This data is based on estimates of prevalence and treatment published by the World Health Organization (WHO). <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-with-alcohol-use-disorders-receiving-treatment"/> ### Alcohol use disorder vs. average alcohol intake Do countries with higher average alcohol consumption have a higher prevalence of alcohol use disorders? In the chart we see prevalence of alcohol dependence versus the average per capita alcohol consumption. Overall there is not a clear relationship between the two, although there may be a slight positive correlation, particularly when viewed by region (e.g. in Europe). There is not, however, clear evidence that high overall consumption (particularly in moderate quantities) is connected to the onset of alcohol dependency. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-with-alcohol-use-disorder-vs-alcohol-consumption"/> ## The disease burden from alcohol use disorders Measuring the health impact by mortality alone fails to capture the impact that alcohol use disorders have on an individual's wellbeing. The '[disease burden](https://ourworldindata.org/burden-of-disease)' – measured in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) – is a considers not only mortality, but also years lived with disability or health burden. The map shows DALYs per 100,000 people which result from alcohol use disorders. DALY rates differentiated by age group can be found [here](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/dalys-from-alcohol-use-disorders-by-age). <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-disorders-dalys-age-standardized-rate"/> ## Risk factors for alcohol use disorders Many of the risk factors for alcohol dependency are similar to those of overall substance use disorders (including illicit drug disorders). Further discussion on these risk factors can be found at our entry on [Substance Use](https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use#risk-factors-for-substance-use-disorders). ### Mental health disorders as a risk factor for alcohol dependency In the chart we show results from a study conducted published by Swendsen et al. (2010).{ref}Swendsen, J., Conway, K. P., Degenhardt, L., Glantz, M., Jin, R., Merikangas, K. R., … & Kessler, R. C. (2010). Mental disorders as risk factors for substance use, abuse and dependence: results from the 10‐year follow‐up of the National Comorbidity Survey. _Addiction_, _105_(6), 1117-1128. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.02902.x{/ref} In this study the authors followed a cohort of more than 5000 individuals, with and without a [mental health](https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health) disorder (but without a substance use disorder) over a 10-year period. Following the 10 year period they re-assessed such individuals for whether they had either a nicotine, alcohol or illicit drug dependency.{ref}Full data with confidence intervals and statistical significance can be found at our table [here](https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health-disorders-as-risk-for-substance-use).{/ref} <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/mental-health-as-risk-for-alcohol-dependency"/> The results in the chart show the increased risk of developing alcohol dependency (we show results for illicit drug dependency in our entry on [Substance Use](https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use#mental-health-disorders-as-a-risk-factor-for-substance-dependency)) for someone with a given mental health disorder (relative to those without). For example, a value of 3.6 for bipolar disorder indicates that illicit drug dependency became more than three time more likely in individuals with bipolar disorder than those without. The risk of an alcohol use disorder is highest in individuals with intermittent explosive disorder, dysthymia, ODD, bipolar disorder and social phobia. --- # Alcohol, crime, and road deaths --- ## Alcohol-related road traffic deaths The map shows the share of all road traffic deaths attributed to alcohol consumption over the national legal limit for alcohol consumption. In South Africa and Papua New Guinea more than half of all traffic deaths are attributable to alcohol consumption. In the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and many European countries alcohol is responsible for around a third of all traffic deaths. In the countries shown in light yellow over 90% of road deaths are not related to alcohol consumption. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/road-traffic-deaths-to-alcohol"/> ## Alcohol-related crime Shown in this map is the share of all crimes which are considered to be alcohol-related. This includes two groups of criminal offenses: 0. Offenses in which the alcohol consumption is part of the crime such as driving with excess alcohol, liquor license violations, and drunkenness offenses. 1. Crimes in which the consumption of alcohol is thought to have played a role of some kind in the committing of the offense – including assault, criminal damage, and other public order offenses. The differences between countries are large: in some countries – including Iran, Chile, and Scandinavian countries – the share is well below 5%. In the UK on the other hand it is over 50%. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-related-crimes-of-all-crimes"/> --- # Definitions and Measurement --- ## What is a standard drink measure? Whilst the World Health Organization (WHO) and most national guidelines typically quantify one unit of alcohol as equal to 10 grams of pure alcohol, the metric used as a 'standard measure' can vary across countries. Most countries across Europe use this 10 grams metric, however this can vary with several adopting 12 or 14 grams per unit. In North America, a unit is typically taken as 14 grams of pure alcohol. In Japan, this is as high as 20 grams per unit. <Chart url="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/standard-drink-measure"/> --- # Data Sources --- ### Institute of Health Metrics & Evaluation (IHME), Global Burden of Disease (GBD) * **Data**: Deaths, DALYs and prevalence of substance use disorders, by age and sex * **Geographical coverage: **Global by country and region * **Time span: **since 1990 * **Available at:**[http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool](http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool) ### World Health Organization (WHO) International Classification of Diseases (ICD) World Health Organization. (1992). _The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders: clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines_ (Vol. 1). World Health Organization. * **Data**: Definitions and classifications of mental and substance use disorders * **Available at:**[ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders](http://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/bluebook.pdf) ### World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Observatory (GHO) * **Data**: Prevalence of substance use disorders, trends in alcohol consumption * **Geographical coverage: **Global by country * **Time span: **Variable depending on datasets. Most inconsistent years post-2000 * **Available at:**[http://www.who.int/gho/en/](http://www.who.int/gho/en/) --- # Further Resources & Guidance --- ### Alcohol Rehab Guide * **Information**: Guidance on the signs of alcoholism, unhealthy drinking behaviors, and support on where to go for help * **Geographical coverage:** Universal guidance; support options for the United States * **Available at:**[https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/support/](https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/support/) ### Hello Sunday Morning * **Information**: A social movement with the aim to reduce stigma around alcohol and to encourages people to consider their relationship with alcohol. * **Available at:**[HelloSundayMorning.org](https://www.hellosundaymorning.org/) ### Drink Aware * **Information**: List and contact details of a range of places for support on alcohol issues * **Geographical coverage:** United Kingdom * **Available at:**[https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-support-services/](https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-support-services/) ### Alcohol Help Center * **Information**: Free guidance, support and discussion groups on concerns related to alcohol * **Geographical coverage:** Global * **Available at:**[http://www.alcoholhelpcenter.net/](http://www.alcoholhelpcenter.net/) ### Rethinking Drinking * **Information**: Test to assess your drinking patterns relative to the US population * **Geographical coverage:** Global; assesses relative to US drinking patterns * **Available at:**[What's your drinking pattern?](https://www.rethinkingdrinking.niaaa.nih.gov/How-much-is-too-much/Is-your-drinking-pattern-risky/Whats-Your-Pattern.aspx) ### Rehab 4 Addiction * **Information**: An advisory and referral service for people who suffer from alcohol, drug, and behavioral addiction. * **Geographical coverage:** Universal guidance; support options for the United Kingdom * **Available at:**[ https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/](https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/) <AllCharts heading="Interactive charts on alcohol consumption"/>

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        "rendered": "\n<div class=\"blog-info\">This article was first published in April 2018. It was revised in January 2022.</div>\n\n\n\n<p>Alcohol has historically, and continues to, hold an important role in social engagement and bonding for many. Social drinking or moderate alcohol consumption for many is pleasurable.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, alcohol consumption \u2013 especially in excess \u2013 is linked to a number of negative outcomes: as a risk factor for diseases and health impacts; crime; road incidents; and for some, alcohol dependence. Globally alcohol consumption causes <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor\">2.8 million premature deaths per year</a>.{ref}74% of those who die are younger than 70 years.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This entry looks at the data on global patterns of alcohol consumption, patterns of drinking, beverage types, the prevalence of alcoholism; and consequences, including crime, mortality and road incidents.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related entries:</strong><br>Data on other drug use can be found at our full entry <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Drug Use disorders are often classified within the same category as mental health disorders \u2014 research and data on mental health can be found at our entry <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Support for alcohol dependency</strong><br>At the end of this entry you will <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#further-resources-guidance\">find additional resources</a> and guidance if you, or someone you know needs support in dealing with alcohol dependency.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Alcohol consumption across the world today</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This interactive map shows the annual average alcohol consumption of alcohol, expressed per person aged 15 years or older. To account for the differences in alcohol content of different alcoholic drinks (e.g. beer, wine, spirits), this is reported in liters of pure alcohol per year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The global average consumption was 6.17 liters per person in 2018.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>To make this average more understandable we can express it in bottles of wine. Wine contains around 12% of pure alcohol per volume{ref}Alcohol.org has <a href=\"https://www.alcohol.org/statistics-information/abv/\">this overview</a> of the range of alcohol by volume of beer, wine, &amp; liquor.{/ref} so that one liter of wine contains 0.12 liters of pure alcohol. The global average of 6.2 liters of pure alcohol per person per year therefore equals 53 bottles of wine per person older than 15. Or to make it more memorable, around 1 liter of wine per week.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the map shows, the average per capita alcohol consumption varies widely across the world. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>We see large geographical differences: Alcohol consumption across North Africa and the Middle East is particularly low&nbsp;\u2014 in many countries, close to zero. At the upper end of the scale, alcohol intake across Europe is highest at around 15 liters per person per year in Czechia. This equals around two bottles of wine per person per week.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Only slightly behind the Eastern European countries are Western European countries \u2013 including Germany, France, Portugal, Ireland, and Belgium \u2013 at around 12 to 14 liters.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-alcohol-consumption-per-capita-litres-of-pure-alcohol\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Share of adults who drink alcohol</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This interactive map shows the share of adults who drink alcohol. This is given as the share of adults, aged 15 years and older, who have drunk alcohol within the previous year.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In many countries the majority of adults drink some alcohol. Across Europe, for example, more than two-thirds do in most countries.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Again, the prevalence of drinking across North Africa and the Middle East is notably lower than elsewhere. Typically 5 to 10 percent of adults across these regions drunk within the preceding year, and in a number of countries this was below 5 percent.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-adults-who-drank-alcohol-in-last-year\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol consumption by sex</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>When we look at gender differences we see that in all countries men are more likely to drink than women. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>This gender difference appears to be lowest in countries where the overall prevalence of drinking high. Where drinking prevalence is low-to-mid range, the prevalence of drinking in women tends to be significantly lower \u2013 often it is less than half the rate of men.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Data on the share who drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK is available <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-alcohol-last-week\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/males-vs-females-who-drank-alcohol-in-last-year\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Heavy drinking sessions</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Alcohol consumption \u2013 whilst a risk factor for a number of health outcomes \u2013 typically has the greatest negative impacts when consumed within heavy sessions. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>This pattern of drinking is often termed &#8216;binging&#8217;, where individuals consume large amounts of alcohol within a single session versus small quantities more frequently. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heavy episodic drinking is defined as the proportion of adult drinkers who have had at least 60 grams or more of pure alcohol on at least one occasion in the past 30 days. An intake of 60 grams of pure alcohol is approximately equal to 6 <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#what-is-a-standard-drink-measure\" target=\"_blank\">standard alcoholic drinks</a>. The map shows heavy drinkers \u2013 those who had an episode of heavy drinking in the previous 30 days \u2013 as a share of total drinkers (i.e those who have drunk less than one alcohol drink in the last 12 months are excluded).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The comparison of this map with the previous maps makes clear that heavy drinking is not necessarily most common in the same countries where alcohol consumption is most common.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Data on the prevalence of binge-drinking by age and gender in the UK can be found <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-drinkers-who-binged\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here</a>; and trends in heavy and binge-drinking in the USA <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-drank-usa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/drinkers-had-a-heavy-session-in-past-30-days\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Share of adults who don&#8217;t drink alcohol</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Global trends on alcohol abstinence show a mirror image of drinking prevalence data. This is shown in the charts as the share of adults who had not drunk in the prior year, and those who have never drunk alcohol. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here we see particularly high levels of alcohol abstinence across North Africa and the Middle East. In most countries in this region, more than 80 percent (often more than 90 percent) have never drunk alcohol.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-have-not-drank-alcohol-in-last-year\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-population-who-never-drink-alcohol\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>Data on the share who don&#8217;t drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK is available <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-dont-drink-alcohol\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Historical perspective on alcohol consumption</h2>\n\n\n\n<h4>Total alcohol consumption over the long-run</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The chart shows alcohol consumption since 1890 in a number of countries.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Across these high-income countries the annual average today lies between 5.6 liters in Japan and 10.4 liters in Austria.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A century ago some countries had much higher levels of alcohol consumption. In France in the 1920s the average was 22.1 liters of pure alcohol per person per year. This equals 184 one liter wine bottles per person per year.{ref}22.1 liters per person in France equals 22.1l / 0.12l = 184 bottles per year.{/ref} Note that in contrast to the modern statistics that are expressed in alcohol consumption per person older than 15 years, this includes children as well \u2013 the average alcohol consumption per adult was therefore even higher.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-alcohol-1890\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol consumption by type of alcoholic beverage</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This chart shows the change in consumption of alcoholic beverages. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>By default the data for Italy is shown \u2013 here the share of beer consumption increased and now makes up almost a quarter of alcohol consumption in Italy.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the change country feature it is possible to view the same data for other countries. Sweden for example increased the share of wine consumption and therefore reduced the share of spirits.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-by-type-1890\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol consumption in the United States since 1850</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Long-run data on alcohol consumption from the United States gives us one perspective of drinking since 1850. In the chart we see the average consumption (in litres of ethanol) of different beverage types per person in the USA from 1850 through to 2013.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over this long time period we see that per capita drinking quantities have been relatively constant&nbsp;\u2014 typically averaging around 8 to 9 litres per year. Over the period 1920-1933,&nbsp;there was a ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States (known as the &#8216;National Alcohol Prohibition&#8217;). Since the statistics here reflect reported sales and consumption statistics, they assume zero consumption of alcohol over this time. However, there is evidence that alcohol consumption continued through black market and illegal sales, particularly in the sales of spirits. It&#8217;s estimated that at the beginning of Prohibition alcohol consumption decreased to approximately 30 percent of pre-prohibition levels, but slowly increased to 60-70 percent by the end of the period.{ref}Miron &amp; Zwiebel (1991).&nbsp;Alcohol Consumption During Prohibition.&nbsp;<em>The&nbsp;American Economic Review</em>, Vol. 81, No. 2, pp. 242-247, (May 1991). Available <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http://www.nber.org/papers/w3675\" target=\"_blank\">online</a>.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>As we see, following prohibition, levels of alcohol consumption returned to the similar levels as in the pre-prohibition period.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-consumption-per-person-us\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Global beer consumption</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The charts show global consumption of beer, first in terms of beer as a share of total alcohol consumption, and then the estimated average consumption per person. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Beer contains around 5% of pure alcohol per volume{ref}Alcohol.org has <a href=\"https://www.alcohol.org/statistics-information/abv/\">this overview</a> of the range of alcohol by volume of beer, wine, &amp; liquor.{/ref} so that one liter of beer contains 0.05 liters of pure alcohol. This means that 5 liters of pure alcohol equals 100 liters of beer.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/beer-as-share-alcohol-consumption\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/beer-consumption-per-person\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Global wine consumption</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The charts show global consumption of wine, first in terms of wine as a share of total alcohol consumption, and then the estimated average consumption per person. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage. Wine contains around 12% of pure alcohol per volume so that one liter of wine contains 0.12 liters of pure alcohol.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wine-as-share-alcohol-consumption\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/wine-consumption-per-person\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Global consumption of spirits</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The charts show global consumption of spirits, which are distilled alcoholic drinks including gin, rum, whisky, tequila and vodka. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first map shows this in terms of spirits as a share of total alcohol consumption. In many Asian countries spirits account for most of total alcohol consumption. In India it is over 90%.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second map shows the estimated average consumption per person. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake, rather than the total quantity of the beverage.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/spirits-as-share-total-alcohol-consumption\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/spirits-consumption-per-person\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h2>Expenditures on alcohol and alcohol consumption by income</h2>\n\n\n\n<h3>Alcohol consumption vs. income</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Does alcohol consumption increase as countries get richer? </p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart we see the relationship between average per capita alcohol consumption \u2013 in litres of pure alcohol per year \u2013 versus gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, across countries.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we look at national averages in this way there is not a distinct relationship between income and alcohol consumption. As shown by clusters of countries (for example, Middle Eastern countries with low alcohol intake but high GDP per capita), we tend to see strong cultural patterns which tend to alter the standard income-consumption relationship we may expect.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-consumption-vs-gdp-per-capita\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>However, when we looking at consumption data within given countries, we sometimes do see a clear income correlation. Taking 2016 data in the UK as an example we see that people within higher income brackets tend to drink more frequently. This correlation is also likely to be influenced by other lifestyle determinants and habits; the UK ONS also report that when grouped by education status, those with a university tend to drink more in total and more frequently than those of lower education status. There are also differences when grouped by profession: individuals in managerial or professional positions tend to drink more frequently than those in intermediate or manual labour roles.{ref}ONS (2018). Adult drinking habits in Great Britain. <em>UK Office of National Statistics</em>. Available at:&nbsp;https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/drugusealcoholandsmoking/datasets/adultdrinkinghabits.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-drank-on-5-or-more-days-by-income\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>However, we also find correlates in drinking&nbsp;<em>patterns</em> when we look at groupings of income, education or work status. Although those in lower income or educational status groups often drink less overall, they are more likely to have lower-frequency, higher-intensity drinking patterns. Overall these groups drink less, but a higher percentage will drink heavily when they do.<br></p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Alcohol expenditure</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This interactive chart shows the average share of household expenditure that is spent on alcohol. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Data on alcohol expenditure is typically limited to North America, Europe and Oceania.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-expenditure-as-share-of-total\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol expenditure over the long-term</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>This shows the expenditure on alcohol in the United States, differentiated by where the alcohol has been purchased and consumed.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-expenditure\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h2>The health impact of alcohol</h2>\n\n\n\n<h3>Alcohol is responsible for 2.8 million premature deaths each year</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Alcohol is one of the world&#8217;s largest risk factors for premature death.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in its <em>Global Burden of Disease</em> study provide estimates of the number of deaths attributed to the range of risk factors.{ref}GBD 2017 Risk Factor Collaborators. &#8220;<a href=\"http://www.healthdata.org/research-article/global-regional-and-national-comparative-risk-assessment-84-behavioral-0\">Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.</a>&#8221; (2018).{/ref} In the visualization we see the number of deaths per year attributed to each risk factor. This chart is shown for the global total, but can be explored for any country or region using the &#8220;change country&#8221; toggle.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-deaths-by-risk-factor\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Alcohol as a risk factor for mortality</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Alcohol consumption is a known <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/causes-of-death#comparisons-of-risk-factors-of-death\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">risk factor</a> for a number of health conditions and potential mortality cases.&nbsp;Alcohol consumption has a causal impact on more than 200 health conditions (diseases and injuries).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart we see estimates of the alcohol-attributable fraction (AAF), which is the proportion of deaths which are caused or exacerbated by alcohol (i.e. that proportion which would disappear if alcohol consumption was removed). </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Across most countries the proportion of deaths attributed to alcohol consumption ranges from 2 to 10 percent. However, across a range of countries this share is much higher; across some countries in Eastern Europe nearly one-quarter of deaths are attributed to alcohol consumption.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-attributable-fraction-of-mortality\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Rate of premature deaths due to alcohol</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Shown here is the rate of premature deaths caused by alcohol.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Globally the rate has declined from 43 deaths per 100,000 people in the early 1990s to 35 deaths in 2017.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/rate-of-premature-deaths-due-to-alcohol\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol related deaths by age</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The chart shows the age distribution of those dying premature deaths due to alcohol.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Globally almost three quarters are younger than 70 years. 28% are younger than 50 years.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is possible to switch this data to any other country or region in the world.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-attributed-to-alcohol-use-by-age\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Alcoholism and alcohol use disorders</h3>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Alcohol use disorder</em>&nbsp;(AUD) refers to drinking of alcohol&nbsp;that causes mental and physical health problems.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alcohol use disorder, which includes alcohol dependence, is defined the WHO&#8217;s <em>International Classification of Diseases</em> (available <a href=\"https://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/bluebook.pdf\">here</a>).</p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/alcohol-consumption#further-reading-support\" target=\"_blank\">end of this entry</a> we provide a number of potential sources of support and guidance for those concerned about uncontrolled drinking or alcohol dependency.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A definite diagnosis of dependence should usually be made only if three or more of the following have been present together at some time during the previous year:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>(a) a strong desire or sense of compulsion to take the substance;</li><li>(b) difficulties in controlling substance-taking behaviour in terms of its onset, termination, or levels of use;</li><li>(c) a physiological withdrawal state when substance use has ceased or been reduced, as evidenced by: the characteristic withdrawal syndrome for the substance; or use of the same (or a closely related) substance with the intention of relieving or avoiding withdrawal symptoms;</li><li>(d) evidence of tolerance, such that increased doses of the psychoactive substance are required in order to achieve effects originally produced by lower doses (clear examples of this are found in alcohol- and opiate-dependent individuals who may take daily doses sufficient to incapacitate or kill nontolerant users);</li><li>(e) progressive neglect of alternative pleasures or interests because of psychoactive substance use, increased amount of time necessary to obtain or take the substance or to recover from its effects;</li><li>(f) persisting with substance use despite clear evidence of overtly harmful consequences, such as harm to the liver through excessive drinking, depressive mood states consequent to periods of heavy substance use, or drug-related impairment of cognitive functioning; efforts should be made to determine that the user was actually, or could be expected to be, aware of the nature and extent of the harm.</li></ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The charts shown below present global data on the prevalence, disease burden and mortality cost of alcohol use disorders.</p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Prevalence of alcohol use disorders</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s estimated that globally around 1.4 percent of the population have an alcohol use disorder. At the country level, as shown in the chart, this ranges from around 0.5 to 5 percent of the population. In Russia, for example, the prevalence is 4.7 percent meaning that almost 1-in-20 have an alcohol dependence at any given time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we look at the variance in prevalence <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-alcohol-use-disorders-by-age\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">across age groups</a>&nbsp;we see that globally the prevalence is highest in those aged between 25 and 34 years old (for which around 2.5 percent of the population have an alcohol use disorder). At the extreme of country-level figures, prevalence amongst Russians aged 30-34 years old is just under 10 percent. This means 1-in-10 Russians in this age group has an alcohol dependency.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Globally, <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-with-alcohol-use-disorders-country\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">107 million</a> people are estimated to have an alcohol use disorder. This breakdown can be viewed by gender for any country <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-with-alcohol-use-disorders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here</a>; 70 percent globally (75 million) were male relative to 32 million females.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-suffering-from-alcohol-use-disorders\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/prevalence-of-alcohol-disorders-males-vs-females\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>The scatter plot compares the prevalence of alcohol use disorders in males versus that of females. In 2017 \u2014 with the exception of Ukraine \u2014 the prevalence of alcohol dependence in men was higher than in women across all countries.</p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Deaths from alcohol use disorders</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Deaths from alcohol dependence can occur both directly or indirectly. Indirect deaths from alcohol use disorders can occur indirectly through suicide. In our entry on <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#link-between-mental-health-and-suicide\" target=\"_blank\">Mental Health</a>, we discuss the link between mental health and substance use disorders with suicide. Although clear attribution of suicide deaths is challenging, alcohol use disorders are a known and established risk factor. It&#8217;s estimated that the <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health#mental-health-as-a-risk-factor-for-suicide\" target=\"_blank\">relative risk of suicide</a> in an individual with alcohol dependence is around 10 times higher than an individual without.{ref}Ferrari et al. (2015). The Burden Attributable to Mental and Substance Use Disorders as Risk Factors for Suicide: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010.&nbsp;<em>PLOS ONE</em>. Available&nbsp;<a href=\"http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0091936#s1\">online</a>.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The chart shows direct death rates (not including suicide deaths) from alcohol use disorders across the world. In 2019, Belarus had the highest death rate with around 21 people per 100,000 individuals dying from alcoholism. For most countries this rate ranges from 1 to 5 deaths per 100,000 individuals.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rates-from-alcohol-use-disorders\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s estimated that globally, around 168,000 people died directly from alcohol use disorders in 2019. The total estimated number of deaths by country from 1990 to 2019 are found <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/deaths-from-alcohol-use-disorders\" target=\"_blank\">here</a>.<br></p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol use disorder treatment</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Global data on the prevalence and effectiveness of alcohol use disorder treatment is very incomplete. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart we see data across some countries on the share of people with an alcohol use disorder who received treatment. This data is based on estimates of prevalence and treatment published by the World Health Organization (WHO).</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-with-alcohol-use-disorders-receiving-treatment\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol use disorder vs. average alcohol intake</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Do countries with higher average alcohol consumption have a higher prevalence of alcohol use disorders? </p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart we see prevalence of alcohol dependence versus the average per capita alcohol consumption. Overall there is not a clear relationship between the two, although there may be a slight positive correlation, particularly when viewed by region (e.g. in Europe). There is not, however, clear evidence that high overall consumption (particularly in moderate quantities) is connected to the onset of alcohol dependency.<br></p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-with-alcohol-use-disorder-vs-alcohol-consumption\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>The disease burden from alcohol use disorders</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Measuring the health impact by mortality alone fails to capture the impact that alcohol use disorders have on an individual&#8217;s wellbeing. The &#8216;<a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/burden-of-disease\">disease burden</a>&#8216; \u2013 measured in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) \u2013 is a considers not only mortality, but also years lived with disability or health burden. The map shows DALYs per 100,000 people which result from alcohol use disorders.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>DALY rates differentiated by age group can be found <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/dalys-from-alcohol-use-disorders-by-age\">here</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-disorders-dalys-age-standardized-rate\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Risk factors for alcohol use disorders</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of the risk factors for alcohol dependency are similar to those of overall substance use disorders (including illicit drug disorders). Further discussion on these risk factors can be found at our entry on <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use#risk-factors-for-substance-use-disorders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Substance Use</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h4>Mental health disorders as a risk factor for alcohol dependency</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>In the chart we show results from a study conducted published by Swendsen et al. (2010).{ref}Swendsen, J., Conway, K. P., Degenhardt, L., Glantz, M., Jin, R., Merikangas, K. R., \u2026 &amp; Kessler, R. C. (2010). Mental disorders as risk factors for substance use, abuse and dependence: results from the 10\u2010year follow\u2010up of the National Comorbidity Survey.&nbsp;<em>Addiction</em>,&nbsp;<em>105</em>(6), 1117-1128. Available at:&nbsp;https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.02902.x{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<p> In this study the authors followed a cohort of more than 5000 individuals, with and without a <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health\" target=\"_blank\">mental health</a> disorder (but without a substance use disorder) over a 10-year period. Following the 10 year period they re-assessed such individuals for whether they had either a nicotine, alcohol or illicit drug dependency.{ref}Full data with confidence intervals and statistical significance can be found at our table <a href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/mental-health-disorders-as-risk-for-substance-use\">here</a>.{/ref}</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/mental-health-as-risk-for-alcohol-dependency\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>The results in the chart show the increased risk of developing alcohol dependency (we show results for illicit drug dependency in our entry on <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://ourworldindata.org/substance-use#mental-health-disorders-as-a-risk-factor-for-substance-dependency\" target=\"_blank\">Substance Use</a>) for someone with a given mental health disorder (relative to those without). For example, a value of 3.6 for bipolar disorder indicates that illicit drug dependency became more than three time more likely in individuals with bipolar disorder than those without. The risk of an alcohol use disorder is highest in individuals with intermittent explosive disorder, dysthymia, ODD, bipolar disorder and social phobia.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Alcohol, crime, and road deaths</h2>\n\n\n\n<h3>Alcohol-related road traffic deaths</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The map shows the share of all road traffic deaths attributed to alcohol consumption over the national legal limit for alcohol consumption.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In South Africa and Papua New Guinea more than half of all traffic deaths are attributable to alcohol consumption.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, and many European countries alcohol is responsible for around a third of all traffic deaths.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the countries shown in light yellow over 90% of road deaths are not related to alcohol consumption.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/road-traffic-deaths-to-alcohol\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h3>Alcohol-related crime</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Shown in this map is the share of all crimes which are considered to be alcohol-related.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>This includes two groups of criminal offenses: </p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Offenses in which the alcohol consumption is part of the crime such as driving with excess alcohol, liquor license violations, and drunkenness offenses.</li><li>Crimes in which the consumption of alcohol is thought to have played a role of some kind in the committing of the offense \u2013 including assault, criminal damage, and other public order offenses.</li></ol>\n\n\n\n<p>The differences between countries are large: in some countries \u2013&nbsp;including Iran, Chile, and Scandinavian countries \u2013 the share is well below 5%. In the UK on the other hand it is over 50%.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/alcohol-related-crimes-of-all-crimes\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h2>Definitions and Measurement</h2>\n\n\n\n<h3>What is a standard drink measure?</h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Whilst the World Health Organization (WHO) and most national guidelines typically quantify one unit of alcohol as equal to 10 grams of pure alcohol, the metric used as a &#8216;standard measure&#8217; can vary across countries. Most countries across Europe use this 10 grams metric, however this can vary with several adopting 12 or 14 grams per unit.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In North America, a unit is typically taken as 14 grams of pure alcohol. In Japan, this is as high as 20 grams per unit.</p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;\" src=\"https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/standard-drink-measure\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\"></iframe>\n\n\n\n<h2>Data Sources</h2>\n\n\n\n<h4>Institute of Health Metrics &amp; Evaluation (IHME), Global Burden of Disease (GBD)</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Data</strong>: Deaths, DALYs and prevalence of substance use disorders, by age and sex</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage: </strong>Global by country and region</li><li><strong>Time span: </strong>since 1990</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong>&nbsp;<a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool\" target=\"_blank\">http://ghdx.healthdata.org/gbd-results-tool</a> </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>World Health Organization (WHO) International Classification of Diseases (ICD)</h4>\n\n\n\n<p>World Health Organization. (1992).&nbsp;<i>The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders: clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines</i>&nbsp;(Vol. 1). World Health Organization.</p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li> <strong>Data</strong>: Definitions and classifications of mental and substance use disorders</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/bluebook.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders</a> </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>World Health Organization (WHO) Global Health Observatory (GHO)</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li> <strong>Data</strong>: Prevalence of substance use disorders, trends in alcohol consumption</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage: </strong>Global by country</li><li><strong>Time span: </strong>Variable depending on datasets. Most inconsistent years post-2000</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"http://www.who.int/gho/en/\">http://www.who.int/gho/en/</a> </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h2>Further Resources &amp; Guidance</h2>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol Rehab Guide</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li> <strong>Information</strong>: Guidance on the signs of alcoholism, unhealthy drinking behaviors, and support on where to go for help</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong> Universal guidance; support options for the United States</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong>&nbsp;<a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/support/\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/support/</a> </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>Hello Sunday Morning</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li> <strong>Information</strong>: A social movement with the aim to reduce stigma around alcohol and to encourages people to consider their relationship with alcohol.</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong> <a href=\"https://www.hellosundaymorning.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HelloSundayMorning.org</a></li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>Drink Aware</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li> <strong>Information</strong>: List and contact details of a range of places for support on alcohol issues</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong>&nbsp;United Kingdom</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong>&nbsp;<a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-support-services/\" target=\"_blank\">https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/alcohol-support-services/</a> </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>Alcohol Help Center</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li> <strong>Information</strong>: Free guidance, support and discussion groups on concerns related to alcohol</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong>&nbsp; Global</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong>&nbsp;<a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http://www.alcoholhelpcenter.net/\" target=\"_blank\">http://www.alcoholhelpcenter.net/</a> </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>Rethinking Drinking</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Information</strong>: Test to assess your drinking patterns relative to the US population</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong>&nbsp; Global; assesses relative to US drinking patterns</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong>&nbsp;<a rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https://www.rethinkingdrinking.niaaa.nih.gov/How-much-is-too-much/Is-your-drinking-pattern-risky/Whats-Your-Pattern.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">What&#8217;s your drinking pattern?</a> </li></ul>\n\n\n\n<h4>Rehab 4 Addiction</h4>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Information</strong>: An advisory and referral service for people who suffer from alcohol, drug, and behavioral addiction.</li><li><strong>Geographical coverage:</strong>&nbsp; Universal guidance; support options for the United Kingdom</li><li><strong>Available at:</strong><a href=\"https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/</a> </li></ul>\n",
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    "excerpt": {
        "rendered": "Who consumes the most alcohol? How has consumption changed over time? And what are the health impacts?",
        "protected": false
    },
    "date_gmt": "2018-04-16T20:06:41",
    "modified": "2023-11-01T08:53:00",
    "template": "",
    "categories": [
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        170,
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    ],
    "menu_order": 277,
    "ping_status": "closed",
    "authors_name": [
        "Hannah Ritchie"
    ],
    "modified_gmt": "2023-11-01T08:53:00",
    "comment_status": "closed",
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