Alcoholism by Country Statistics

According to the WHO - World Health Organization, there are over 2.6 million deaths each year due to alcohol abuse. It was the seventh leading risk factor of death in 2021 and had become a global burden [1].

Americans use an average of 8.7 litres of pure alcohol for every capita yearly; this is equivalent to 29.0 handles of vodka for every individual a year.

The recent statistics are from the global status report on alcohol consumption patterns and rates in every country from 2004, which recorded the proportion of females and males, fifteen years old and above, with harmful use of alcohol.

Recent stats

According to the UK government, there was an increase in alcohol consumption during the pandemic and this caused an increase in deaths. Most people reported drinking alcohol in order to deal with mental and behavioural disorders [2].

In 2020, alcohol attributable deaths increased by 20%. This was an increase from 5,819 to 6,983. The world health organization had already raised the alarm on this, and cautioned most countries to be vigilant when it came to alcohol consumption.

Alcoholism by country percentage 

The yearly average alcohol use worldwide is 6 litres for every individual older than fifteen years old [3].

To report for the disparities in the content of alcohol in different alcoholic drinks such as; beer, wine, and spirits, this is documented in litres of 100 per cent pure alcohol a year.

To make this 6-liters average understandable, let us show it in a bottle of wine.

A wine has approximately 12 per cent ethanol for every volume which means that; one litre of wine has 0.12 litres of pure alcohol. 

Therefore, the 6 litres of alcohol use per person annually is equivalent to 63 bottles of wine for every individual older than 15 or about 1 litre of wine a week.

According to the research, the average for every capita alcohol use differs widely in the world.

There is a massive geographical disparity: Alcohol consumption across the Middle East and North Africa is relatively low; it is almost zero in various countries.

On the other hand, alcohol consumption in Europe is higher at roughly 15 litres for every person annually in Lithuania, Czechia, and Moldova.

This is equivalent to roughly two bottles of wine for every individual weekly. Which is usually considered over moderate alcohol consumption, and could put the individual at risk of alcohol related harm.

Just behind the countries in Eastern Europe are countries in Western Europe, which include Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, France as well as Germany at approximately 12 to 14 litres.

Nigeria is the only country outside Europe with a high rate of alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorder.

See our statistical review of Alcohol Abuse before, during, and after the pandemic, here.

Share of adults drinking alcohol 

The share of grown-up individuals who consume alcoholic drinks is highest in Australia and Western Europe.

It’s highest in France; and the recorded alcohol consumption in 2010, was close to 95% of grown-up individuals in France.

Once more, the occurrence of consuming alcohol in the Middle East and North Africa is notably lower compared to other regions.

Usually, five to ten per cent of grown-up individuals in these regions drunk in the previous year, and in many countries, this was five per cent.

Alcohol use by sex 

If you take a look at the gender differences, you will see that in all regions, men were reported to drink alcohol more than women.

The gender difference appears to be lowest in regions where the entire prevalence of drinking is high.

While the consumed alcohol was mid-range, drinking frequency in women is likely to be considerably lower often it is less than half the occurrence of men.

Russia and Australia have the highest prevalence of alcohol dependence overall, with 2.61 per cent and 2.58 per cent, respectively.

According to the WHO, US has the lowest rate of alcohol dependence with only 1.92 per cent.

Russia and Hungary have the highest rate of alcohol consumption in the male category, and Thailand has the lowest rating with only 10.18 per cent.

These countries also reported the highest levels of alcohol use disorders. The global status also included the leading alcohol-related conditions such as mental health disorders, fetal alcohol syndrome, liver cirrhosis, premature death, and transmission of infectious diseases.

The United States is not included in this category.

What constitutes a heavy drinking session?

A heavy drinking session constitutes drinking to the level where your blood alcohol concentration or BAC goes up to 0.08 g/dl and above. This is typically consuming more than 5 drinks for men and 4 drinks or more for women in a period of 2 hours.

Alcohol consumption is a health burden for anyone who is addicted, and can lead to premature death, which is part of alcohol related mortality, liver diseases, and the transmission of infectious diseases.

You may think that going out for a binge drinking session with your friends to drink alcohol constitutes alcohol use disorder, but it may not, although this could be the starting point for you addiction.

The amount of alcohol consumed, in a day, has got to be higher than the accepted average for it to be considered problem drinking.

But basically, if your alcohol intake is on a daily basis, then you are probably addicted to alcohol.

Heavy drinker or heavy episodic drinking refers to the percentage of adult drinkers that have had 60 grams or more than 100% alcohol per capita consumption on one occasion in the preceding thirty days.

A consumption of sixty grams of pure alcohol is equivalent to six standard alcoholic beverages.

The global status report

The global status report on alcohol consumption per capita showed that heavy alcohol drinkers - people who have an incident of problem drinking within a period of thirty days, and have probably caused alcohol related harm, can be considered part of the global burden of disease.

The evaluation of this global status report makes it clear that alcohol related harm is the leading cause of global deaths as a result of abuse.

There is also the issue of underage drinking, where the age group of the population drinking is less than the agreed age. This is what contributes to a high adult drinking as they started young.

For example, in Madagascar, 65% of adult drinkers have had a binge drinking session instead of reduced usage over longer time periods.

The status report on alcohol consumption showed that Paraguay, Lithuania, Mongolia, Austria, Finland as well as Benin all had a pure alcohol per capita consumption of over 50% of drinkers having a heavy sessions when they were in a lower age group.

On the contrary, in many countries in South Asia and Africa, this was the case for not more than five per cent of drinkers. Even in European countries, there are big disparities between regions.

For instance, in Italy, just six per cent of adult drinkers had a drinking session in contrast to almost half in Ireland.

Spain has 20 per cent, 42 per cent in Belgium and one third in France and UK.

How much alcohol is consumed globally?

The amount of alcohol consumption in the world today is about 6 litres per capita older than 15 years [4].6 

This is an annual trend that is anticipated to keep on through the year 2031 when Europe no longer has the maximum rates in alcohol consumption.

Alcohol consumption continues to hold a vital role in social bonding and engagement for many. Moderate alcohol drink or social drinking for a lot is pleasurable, although this mild drinking has a disease burden as well.

People who have drunk alcohol expose themselves to alcohol related conditions such as liver disease, mental and behavioural disorders, alcohol related life lost, and foetal alcohol syndrome.

Alcohol consumption worldwide causes almost 2.8 million early deaths a year. This statistic is specifically for adult age group, and the risk factor of people who drunk alcohol while underage is still high.

In general, Belarus residents used 14.6 litres of alcohol a year. This is equivalent to forty-nine handles of vodka for every individual. Clearly this systematic analysis is just too much. This is a country whose gross domestic product is way to high on alcohol.

Probably one of the problems with Belarus and other countries is the physical availability of alcohol, and the drinking patterns of alcohol per person including underage drinking for people in an age group below 18 years.

The status report on alcohol showed that the US in comparison reported 8.7 litres of alcohol used a year, with an equivalent of twenty-nine handles of vodka for every person.

Belarus is a small landlocked region located in Europe, used the highest percentage of litres of alcohol a year. Alcohol attributable deaths were also high in this country according to the disease study conducted.

Its populace, in general, used 14.4 litres a year, more than 1.5 times higher than people in the US.

While the government of Belarus was quick to refute and contradict the reports published by the WHO, national anti-alcohol moves were implemented with anticipation of reducing the level of use of pure alcohol per person in this country.

Russia, on the other hand, is renowned for its heavy use of vodka. It consumed an average of almost 11.5 litres of alcohol a year, not more than the average of 5 other regions. The drinking patterns of Russians are well known and you would think that they would be number one.

Even if it still makes the top ten, the typecast of Russians as well as vodka might be decreasing and declining as the Prime Minister of the country has been attacking illegal use of alcohol in light of many Alcohol attributable deaths, or life lost.

Other countries that consumed less are Slovakia, Luxembourg as well as Ireland, all consume an average of 11.4 litres a year.

The United States of America claimed the twenty-fifth rank, drinking 8.7 litres of average alcohol intake yearly.

Alcohol consumption increased a lot in middle-income as well as income countries like India, Vietnam as well as China.

On the other hand, it was reduced in countries in Europe that once had the highest levels of alcohol consumption.

Highest alcohol dependency rate by country 

As you see, Russia, Hungary, and Lithuania are the three countries in Europe with the top alcohol dependence rate both for men and women category.

There are however some countries at the bottom that reported zero consumption of alcohol consumption.

Many decades ago, some regions have a higher percentage of alcohol use. For example, in France, in the year 1920, the average percentage was 22.1 litres of alcohol for every individual a year.

This is equivalent to 184 one liter wine bottles for every individual a year. It certainly has some adverse health outcomes for the individuals.

Keep in mind that in contrast to today’s data which are shown in alcohol use for every individual older than fifteen years, this takes account of kids as well. The normal consumption for every adult was even higher.

Scots are drinking more spirits than ever before.

What are the warning signs of problem drinking?

You may think that your usually casual drinking is okay, but sooner or later, you may find yourself in a point of desperation when you notice the following signs;

• That you are drinking more alcohol and longer than you normally do.
• When you have tried to cut back more than once in vain.
• When you spend most of your time thinking about alcohol.
• When you are constantly hungover or sick from too much alcohol.
• When you need alcohol to function.
• When you keep drinking, even though it has already caused plenty of problems for you in the past.

We're here to help

Abbeycare is your go-to treatment facility for addiction. We offer comprehensive services tailored to your needs. 

Call our local number 01603 513 091.