Europeans are the world's top consumers of alcohol in the
world.
Heavy drinking is part of the culture of Northern
Europeans in particular.
In the 25-member EU (excluding new additions Romania and
Bulgaria), 90 percent of 15- and
16-year-old students have consumed alcohol at some
point in their lives, a rate far higher than in the
United States, according to the European School
Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs. On
average, they begin to drink at 12˝ and get drunk
for the first time at 14. Among 15-year-old Danes,
50 percent of the boys and 37 percent of the girls
drink every week, according to a study by the University
of Copenhagen.
In countries such as Ireland, the UK and Denmark, what is
termed "binge" drinking is common. This refers to reserving
drinking alcohol for a few days a week - usually from Thursday
and then consuming 4 or more liters of beer or 7 pints of beer
in an evening. The intention of some younger drinkers is
actually to get drunk/merry when heading out on an evening to
drink.
Ireland's per capita litre consumption increased from 7.0 in
1970 to 14.5 in 2001 according to the World Health Organization
and 13.5 in 2004.
This compares with 20.4 in France in 1970 down to 13.0 in 2004.
A report published on Nov 01, 2007, showed that alcohol consumption in the Irish population had increased by 17% over
the previous 11 years, from 11.5 litres per adult in 1995 to 13.4 litres
in 2006. This rise in consumption led to increases in
alcohol-related harm and disease, and resulted in more than
1,775 deaths. This, in turn, created escalating pressures on our
health and hospital services. These figures were reported in a
comprehensive new overview of the health-related consequences of
problem alcohol use published today by the Health Research Board (HRB).
The report provided strong evidence of the impact of
alcohol-related illness on hospital services, according to Dr
Deirdre Mongan, Research Officer at the HRB and lead author of the
report. The number of people discharged from hospital with
alcohol-related problems or injuries increased by almost 90% in the
ten years between 1995 and 2004. In 2004, people with
alcohol-related illness used 117,373 bed days in hospital – more
than double the figure of 55,805 bed days in 1995.
Download Excel file - - OECD Health Data 2010
In Luxembourg, national sales do not
accurately reflect consumption by residents, due to significant
levels of consumption by tourists and cross border traffic of alcoholic
beverages. In addition many workers in the Duchy live beyond its
borders.
IRISH HEALTH RESEARCH BOARD REPORT
NOV 01, 2007
Irish Alcohol Consumption surged 17% since 1995; Alcohol-related
hospital discharges jump 90%
EU BAROMETER REPORT MARCH 15, 2007:
Ireland heads alcohol binge drinking ranking in Europe
REPORT FROM EUROPEAN COMMISSION
SEPT 08, 2006:
Alcohol Taxation: European Commission proposes increases of
minimum rates - Ireland not affected as its existing drink taxes
are amongst Europe's highest
Data issued by the Irish Brewers Association in November 2004,
has lower consumption per capita and a decline in 2003. However,
Ireland remains at the top of the alcohol rankings.
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Source: Irish
Brewers Association |
Beer
on Draught Dominant in Ireland |
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Source: Irish Brewers Association |
Irish top alcohol spending per capita in European Union: Three
times more than the Danes who are in second place
While the Irish undoubtedly drink like fish (the writer also
likes alcohol), Danny McCoy the
director of policy at Ibec, the employers' lobbying
organisation, takes issue with the actual expenditure
comparisons.
McCoy wrote in The Irish Times that that
spending on alcohol is recorded differently across the EU in contrast to
Ireland. When comparisons of alcohol consumption are made, distinction
is normally made between spending on alcohol in pubs on the one hand and
in off-licences on the other. In most European countries only spending
in off-licences is attributed to the category "alcohol" in national
statistics, whereas money spent in pubs and restaurants is included in
categories such as "recreation" or "entertainment".
The Irish numbers, in contrast, include spending in off-licences and
pub sales combined. A recent Drinks Industry Group of Ireland report
estimated that 70 per cent of alcohol in Ireland is bought in pubs and
restaurants. This is a substantially higher proportion than our European
counterparts, largely due to the greater propensity for Irish people to
drink in pubs and restaurants rather than at home. The inclusion of both
categories therefore greatly inflates alcohol expenditure levels in
Ireland in comparison with other EU countries. While there is a
continuing trend towards more off-licence sales in Ireland, it is the
classification distinction that significantly explains the exaggerated
comparisons of Irish alcohol expenditure with other countries.
In the context of a comprehensive measurement of alcohol spending, it
could be argued that the Irish proportion of expenditure on alcohol is
not overestimated; rather other countries' expenditure ratios are
underestimated. The recent national accounts from the Central Statistics
Office show that expenditure on alcohol in Ireland is 8.6 per cent of
total personal expenditure, which has declined from 10.8 per cent in the
mid-1990s. The recent EU-funded report claims that Ireland spends three
times more than any other country on alcohol. However, using directly
comparable data, a far different story is told.
Between 1995 and 2004, households in Ireland spent an average of 2.6
per cent of their personal expenditure on alcoholic beverages - when
measured as off-licence consumption. In Greece the proportion is
smaller, at 0.9 per cent, but certainly not 10 times smaller as widely
reported. Ireland was surpassed by Finland, Luxembourg and the Czech
Republic, which had averages of 3.8 per cent, 3 per cent and 5.2 per
cent respectively. When on-licence trade is factored back in, Ireland
would emerge towards the top of the expenditure league, but by no means
anywhere near the exaggerated multiples normally reported.
Expenditure figures are a combination of the actual quantity of
alcohol consumed and its price. The fact that taxes on alcohol are
higher in Ireland than in most EU member states inflates the expenditure
levels without necessarily implying greater consumption levels.
Per-capita alcohol consumption levels in Ireland are high by
international standards, but not disproportionately so. The trend over
the last decade was for actual alcohol consumed to rise as income levels
increased significantly, but at the same time the proportion of
expenditure on alcohol declined. A number of factors led to the increase
in alcohol consumed, particularly the huge growth in the numbers of
people in the 18-25 age group and increased inward migration of adults.
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The
Finfacts Guinness Pint Index
The ratio of the price of pint to average earnings |
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Believe
those who search for truth. Doubt those who claim to have found
it
-André
Gide (1869-1951) Nobel Laureate 1947 |
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