WHO results: Europeans are the world’s biggest drinkers

29.03.2012 [14:37]
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Baku, March 29 (AZERTAC). Europeans love to consume alcohol, according to a recent report by the World Health Organization the average person will consume 12.5 liters of pure alcohol each year, an amount equivalent to three glasses of wine a day.

But while the title of world's heaviest drinkers goes to the European Union as whole, where consumption is almost double the world average, there are also wide variations in drinking levels between sub-regions, as well as big differences in how frequently, where and when people drink.

In a breakdown of drinking by sub-region, the heaviest drinkers were in central-eastern and eastern Europe - consuming 14.5 liters of pure alcohol per adult per year compared to 12.4 liters in central-western and western Europe, 11.2 liters in southern Europe and 10.4 liters in Nordic countries.

The report found that in the European Union (EU), almost 12 percent of all deaths in 2004 among people aged 15-64 were due to alcohol - equivalent to 1 in 7 deaths in men and 1 in 13 deaths in women. Just over 3 percent of deaths were due to alcohol consumed by others.

Worldwide, some 2.5 million people die each year from the harmful use of alcohol, accounting for about 3.8 percent of all deaths, according to previous WHO data.

WHO results: Europeans are the world’s biggest drinkers

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