Alcohol Consumption over the World

Global Trends
1. Alcohol Consumption pro capita Worldwide per capita consumption of alcoholic beverages in 2005 equaled 6.13 litres of pure alcohol consumed by every person aged 15 years or older.
2. Beer actually remains the world’s most popular drink, averaging 17.5 liters of consumption per person per year currently. Beer is followed by wine (about 3 liters per person per year) then spirits (2.2 liters per person per year). Most of Eastern Europe’s increase in consumption actually appears to be in the form of beer consumption (a rise of 39 liters per person per year from 1997 to 2011), in spite of stereotypes about Russian vodka (hard liquor and spirits actually remained fairly constant in consumption in Eastern Europe during this period). Most of the decline in consumption in the US and North American generally is also from reduced consumption of beer (a drop of about 4.4 liters per person per year from 1997 to 2010).
3. The highest consumption levels can be found in the developed world, mostly the Northern Hemisphere, but also in Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. Medium consumption levels can be found in southern Africa, with Namibia and South Africa having the highest levels, and in North and South America. Low consumption levels can be found in the countries of North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean region, and southern Asia and the Indian Ocean. These regions represent large populations of the Islamic faith, which have very high rates of abstention.
Western Countries
1. HOW MUCH?
  1. The European Union has the highest rate of alcohol consumption in the world (11 litres of pure alcohol1 drunk per adult each year).
  2. 55 million European adults drink to dangerous levels and some 23 million are dependent on alcohol in any year.
2. ON WHAT OCCASIONS?
  1. the increasing trend towards binge-drinking; 80 million European aged 15 years reported binge drinking at least once a week in 2006.
3. WITH WHICH CONSEQUENCES?
  1. Alcohol is responsible for 7.4 % of all ill-health and premature death in the EU. This makes alcohol the 3rd leading risk factor, only behind tobacco and high blood pressure.
  2. Alcohol is a drug that can lead to dependence. It is also a toxic substance in terms of its direct and indirect effects on a wide range of body organs and systems and a cause of some 60 diseases and conditions, including; cancers, liver cirrhosis, mental and behavioural disorders, injuries, gastrointestinal conditions, cardiovascular diseases, immunological and reproductive disorders etc.
  3. Alcohol is estimated to be responsible for approximately 195 000 deaths each year in the EU.
  4. Young people shoulder a disproportionate amount of these deaths; 1 in every 4 deaths among young men (aged 15-29 years) in the EU is due to alcohol (often caused by road traffic accidents, homicide, violence, etc) and 1 in every 10 deaths among young females.
  5. Drinking alcohol during pregnancy is the leading known cause of mental disorders and birth defects in the EU. It affects about 1% of people in the EU27 (i.e. nearly 5 million people).
  6. The cost of alcohol related harm to the EU’s economy was estimated to be €125 billion in 2003 (i.e. 1.3 % of GDP).
Asian Countries
1. WHAT?
  1. Each country developed their particular preferred drink most often based on a staple of the region…rice – from Sato of Thailand, Makgeolli of Korea and Sake (nihonshu) of Japan.
  2. Along with rice, there are local tipples based on various fruits, sweet potato, and wheat, many times infused with various herbs and spices, snakes or hornets, all believed to bring the drinker vigour and health.
  3. We find that the traditional domination of beer in the region as the most preferred drink is being challenged by wine, especially in China, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam. A larger percentage of drinkers listed wine as amongst their preferred drinks. The standout was China, with 74% of drinkers indicating that they like wine, the next largest group was beer drinkers in South Korea.
2. HOW MUCH?
  1. The average consumption across 20 Asia/Pacific countries and economies in 2008 was a modest 2.4 litres per capita, compared to 10.0 in OECD countries.
  2. Adults aged 15 years and over in the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Japan consumed over seven litres of alcohol per capita in 2008.
  3. In Thailand; Macao, China, the Lao PDR; China and the Philippines, consumption was between four and seven litres.
  4. Because cultural and religious traditions in a number of the remaining countries prohibit drinking alcohol, consumption figures in these are minimal). In some countries, only certain people groups consume alcohol; in Thailand, for example, around one third of the population drink.
3. HOW OFTEN?
  1. In the Southeast Asian region in 2005, 22% of drinkers reported weekly heavy episodic drinking during the last 12 months
4. WITH WHAT CONSQUENCES?
  1. Malaysia - 38 per cent of those who died in road accidents; 30 per cent of hospital admissions for head injuries, 25 per cent below average in work performance of alcoholics ; 10 per cent reported having health problems; Alcoholics are 16 times more likely to be absent from their jobs
  2. Thailand – 62 per cent of traffic accident victims
  3. India – 300 die from methanol poisoning; 3000 suffer long term disabilities such as blindness; 10 per cent of male suicides
  4. Sri Lanka – the number of liver cirrhosis patients is increasing, among oral cancer patients 68 per cent were alcohol users; driving under influence of alcohol is 20 per 100,000
  5. Myanmar (Burma) – 11 per cent of psychiatric inpatients received primary diagnosis of alcohol dependence.