Europe’s heaviest drinking countries: These countries are drinking more alcohol than ever before.

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“No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health,” warns the World Health Organization (WHO). However, the amount of alcohol we drink is still significant.

Increased alcohol intake significantly increases the risk of developing cancer. Health officials are urging people to stop drinking, or at least reduce the amount they drink.

But will we consider these calls?

Some people stop drinking alcohol in January due to the so-called “Dry January.” The figures show a decline in alcohol consumption in Europe, which has slowed since the 2000s.

How has alcohol consumption changed across Europe over the past few decades? Which countries are seeing the highest rates of decline and growth in alcohol consumption?

Overall alcohol consumption is defined as the annual sales of pure alcohol (in liters) per person aged 15 years and older. Alcoholic beverages are converted to pure alcohol. This data does not include unrecorded alcohol consumption, such as domestically produced or illegally produced alcohol.

Alcohol consumption is gradually decreasing in the EU and WHO European Region.

In the EU, overall alcohol consumption per person aged 15 and over has decreased by 2.9 liters over the past 40 years, from 12.7 liters in 1980 to 9.8 liters in 2020, representing a 23% decrease. do.

Consumption recorded a significant decline between 1980 (12.7 liters) and 2000 (10.5 liters).

Over the next two decades, the amount and rate of decline slowed. In the EU, it decreased by 0.5 liters between 2010 and 2010.

Alcohol consumption in the WHO European region, which covers 53 countries including Russia and its surrounding countries, fell from 12 liters in 2000 to 9.5 liters in 2020, a decrease of 2.5 liters (21%). Equivalent to.

Despite this decline, the WHO European Region still has the highest per capita alcohol consumption in the world.

People over the age of 15 in this region drink an average of 9.5 liters of pure alcohol each year. This equates to 190 liters of beer, 80 liters of wine and 24 liters of spirits.

Annual alcohol consumption in 2020 varied between 36 European countries, including the EU, the UK, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), and EU candidate countries, from 1.2 liters in Turkey to 12.1 liters in Latvia.

EU citizens consumed on average 9.8 liters of alcohol.

The country with the highest alcohol consumption among the EU’s ‘Big Four’ in terms of economy and population is Germany (10.6 litres), followed by France (10.4 litres), Spain (7.8 litres) and Italy (7.7 litres). It became. In the UK it was 9.7 litres.

Looking at country-level changes from 2010 to 2020, alcohol consumption decreased in 25 countries but increased in 11 countries.

While some countries recorded small changes, most countries saw significant changes over this period.

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Consumption decreased by more than 1 liter in 14 countries

Over this period, alcohol consumption fell by more than 1 liter in 14 countries, while it increased in five countries.

Ireland and Lithuania recorded the largest declines in alcohol consumption over this period. Both countries saw a decrease of 2.1 liters, followed closely by Spain and Greece (both 2 liters).

The Netherlands, France, Cyprus and Finland also recorded reductions of more than 1.5 liters. In Serbia, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Switzerland and Germany, the reduction was between 1 and 1.5 liters.

In the EU, alcohol consumption decreased by 0.6 liters between 2010 and 2020.

Latvia had the highest rate of increase, with consumption increasing by 2.3 liters.

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Bulgaria (1.4 liters), Malta (1.1 liters), Romania and Poland (all 1 liter) also showed significant increases. Norway, Italy and Iceland exceeded 0.5 liters.

Alcohol consumption varies widely across Europe, so looking at the rate of change is also a useful indicator.

Greece had the largest decline of 24.1%, followed by the Netherlands (20.9%), Spain (20.4%) and Turkey (20%).

Ireland, Serbia, Lithuania, Finland, France and Cyprus also saw declines of more than 15%.

Latvia (23.5%) also had the highest rate of change increase.

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Many countries in Europe have implemented various policies to limit alcohol consumption, including taxes, restrictions on alcohol availability, and bans on alcohol advertising.

However, according to the OECD, its effectiveness is hampered by poor implementation on the ground and limited resources.

The role of gender and education in heavy drinking

Alcohol intake varies widely by gender and education. The proportion of episodic heavy drinkers, rather than quantity, is investigated.

This is the percentage of adults 18 and older who reported consuming 60 grams or more of pure ethanol on a single occasion in the past 30 days. This equates to over 6 drinks.

In 2019, almost one in five adults (19%) in EU countries reported episodic heavy drinking at least once a month, a rate that has remained stable since 2014.

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In all countries, men were more likely than women to report heavy episodic drinking. In 2019, on average across EU countries, 26.6% of men reported episodic heavy drinking at least once a month, compared to 11.4% of women.

The highest proportion of episodic heavy drinking among men was in Romania (55.2%). In Denmark, Luxembourg, Germany and Belgium, this percentage exceeded his 35%.

Women in Denmark, Luxembourg, Germany and Ireland had the highest rates of episodic heavy drinking, exceeding 20%.

The proportion of male and female heavy drinkers shows gender differences. In 2019, in the EU this was 2.33 people, indicating that 2.33 men, as opposed to women, were heavy drinkers. This ratio was lowest in Ireland (1.46), Iceland (1.63) and Germany (1.74).

Turkey and Cyprus were outliers, with a ratio of alcohol consumption between men and women of more than 8.

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This academic research suggests that gender differences are related to different cultural expectations and may reflect traditional gender roles. It may also be associated with employment disparities and lower incomes between men and women.

People with lower levels of education are less likely to drink heavily. why?

Educational level is also important when it comes to heavy drinking. With the exception of Latvia, people with lower levels of education do not have higher rates of episodic heavy drinking in EU countries.

On average, 12.5% ​​of those with an upper secondary education or less reported episodic heavy drinking, compared with 22.3% of those with an upper secondary education or higher education or higher education. Among people (20.2%), it was more than 20%.

These differences largely reflect increased purchasing power.

The OECD’s Health Cycle Report on the European Union states that “alcohol is more affordable for people with higher education and higher incomes. However, when looking at alcohol-related harms, alcohol is more affordable for people of lower socio-economic status. “The more people there are, the greater the burden.” -2022” report found.

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The highest disparities in education binge drinking were found in Latvia, Greece, Estonia, Bulgaria, and Lithuania.

In these countries, rates of episodic heavy drinking were slightly higher among those with less education than among those with higher education.

Is there a safe level of alcohol use?

This is a simple question and the answer is simple. “No, that’s not true.”

“We cannot talk about so-called safe alcohol consumption levels. It doesn’t matter how much you drink. The risk to a drinker’s health begins with the first drop of any alcoholic beverage,” said Karina Ferreira-Borges, deputy director of the department. the doctor said. This was explained by the Director of Noncommunicable Disease Management and Regional Advisor on Alcohol and Illegal Drugs, WHO Regional Office for Europe.

However, the amount of alcohol still matters.

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“The only thing we can say for sure is that the more you drink, the more harmful you are. In other words, the less you drink, the safer you are,” Ferreira-Borges said. Told.