Pafos Live 26 July 2024
With an average annual consumption of 9.2 litres of alcohol per capita, Europeans are the heaviest drinkers in the world, according to a statement today by the European branch of the World Health Organization (WHO).
"The European region continues to hold the unenviable record for the highest levels of alcohol consumption and associated harmful effects globally," said Dr. Goden Galea, the WHO's Europe official, based on the latest available data from 2019.
In EU countries "there have been no significant changes in alcohol consumption levels for more than ten years", the WHO notes.
Residents of the Americas come in second place, according to the latest WHO report published in June on global alcohol consumption, with an average of 7.5 liters annually.
Men have the highest alcohol consumption in Europe: 14.9 litres per year on average, or four times more than women (four litres per year).
One in ten adults (11%) in Europe suffers from an alcohol-related disorder and almost one in 20 is dependent on alcohol (5.9%), according to the WHO's Europe branch, which brings together 53 countries in Europe and Central Asia.
"In Europe, alcohol is the leading cause of mortality with around 800,000 deaths each year," the WHO notes.
It causes many non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases.
These diseases "are responsible for 90 percent of all deaths in the region (defined by the WHO) and 85 percent of the years these patients lived with disabilities," according to the WHO.
The agency calls on European countries "to raise taxes on alcoholic beverages, implement global restrictions on alcohol trade and reduce its availability."
Alcohol kills 2.6 million people worldwide every year, a figure that remains "unacceptably high" for WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
