According to a report published by the World Health Organization (WHO), alcohol abuse led to more than three million deaths in 2016, or one in every 20. More than three-quarters of these deaths involved men. Alcohol abuse accounts for more than 5% of the global disease burden.
"It's time to act more decisively to counter this serious threat to the development of healthy societies" Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
Among alcohol-attributable deaths, 28% were due to trauma, following traffic accidents, self-inflicted or caused by interpersonal violence; 21% were due to digestive pathologies and 19% were due to cardiovascular diseases, with the remainder due to infectious diseases, cancers, mental disorders or other conditions.
Worldwide, an estimated 237 million men and 46 million women suffer from alcohol-related disorders. Prevalence is highest in the European and Americas regions (14.8% for men and 3.5% for women, and 11.5% for men and 5.1% for women, respectively). Alcohol use disorders are more common in high-income countries.
Worldwide, more than a quarter (27%) of people aged 15-19 are current consumers.
An estimated 2.3 billion people drink alcohol today. In three WHO Regions - the Americas, Europe and the Western Pacific - more than half the population consumes alcohol. The European Region has the highest per capita consumption in the world, although this has fallen by 10% since 2010. Current trends and projections indicate that global per capita alcohol consumption is set to increase over the next 10 years, particularly in the South-East Asia, Western Pacific and Americas Regions.
The average drinker consumes 33 grams of pure alcohol per day, which is roughly equivalent to two glasses of wine, a large bottle of beer (750 ml) or two glasses of spirits.
Current drinking rates are highest among 15-19 year-olds in Europe (44%), followed by the Americas (38%) and the Western Pacific (38%). School surveys show that, in many countries, alcohol consumption begins before the age of 15, and the gap between boys and girls is very small.
Proven, cost-effective measures to reduce alcohol consumption include raising taxes on alcoholic beverages, restricting or banning advertising, and restricting the availability of alcoholic beverages. The likelihood of such policies being introduced is higher in high-income countries, raising issues of global health equity and highlighting the need for greater support for low- and middle-income countries.
Almost all countries (95%) apply excise duties on alcohol, but less than half use other price-based strategies such as bans on loss-leader sales or volume discounts. The majority of countries impose some type of restriction on beer advertising, with total bans being more common for TV and radio, but less frequent for the Internet and social media.
"Our hope is that Member States will implement creative, life-saving solutions such as alcohol taxes and advertising restrictions. We must redouble our efforts to reduce demand and achieve the goal set by governments of reducing global alcohol consumption by 10% between 2010 and 2025",Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
Reducing alcohol abuse will contribute to the achievement of a number of health-related Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets, including maternal and child health, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, mental health, injuries and intoxication.