The WHO's latest report on alcohol and health says alcohol is responsible for nearly 1 in 20 deaths globally each year, in cases such as drink driving, alcohol-related violence and abuse, as well as numerous diseases and alcohol use disorders.
The report said that according to the most recent statistics in 2019, about 2.6 million deaths were caused by alcohol consumption, accounting for 4.7% of all deaths worldwide that year. Nearly three-quarters of these deaths were men; the age group with the highest rate of alcohol-related deaths in 2019 was 20-39 years old (13%).
“Alcohol use seriously harms individuals’ health, increasing the risk of chronic diseases and mental health conditions and leading to millions of preventable deaths every year,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
He pointed out that since 2010, alcohol consumption and related harms have declined globally. However, the health and social burden of alcohol use remains “unacceptably high”. He also stressed that young people are disproportionately affected.
According to a WHO report, globally, 23.5% of young people aged 15-19 are using alcohol. This figure is more than 45% in Europe and nearly 44% in the Americas.
According to WHO, alcohol consumption is linked to a number of health conditions, including cirrhosis and some cancers. Of all alcohol-related deaths in 2019, the report found that an estimated 1.6 million were due to non-communicable diseases, including 474,000 from cardiovascular disease, 401,000 from cancer, and 724,000 from injuries, including traffic accidents and self-harm. The report also found that alcohol abuse makes people more susceptible to infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and pneumonia.
An estimated 209 million people were alcohol dependent in 2019, representing 3.7% of the global population. The report found that total alcohol consumption per capita worldwide fell slightly to 5.5 liters in 2019 from 5.7 liters nine years earlier. However, overall alcohol consumption is unevenly distributed across the globe. More than half of the world’s population over the age of 15 abstains from alcohol altogether.
Europe currently has the highest per capita alcohol consumption (9.2 litres), followed by the Americas (7.5 litres). Consumption is lowest in Muslim-majority countries in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
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