Europeans drink the most

European alcohol consumption highest

14/09/2011

Who would have thought that Europeans drink the most alcohol. In view of the tradition of alcohol consumption in many European countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) has now confirmed in a comprehensive study that Europeans are the largest "schnapps chokes" in the world.

Every European consumes an average of 9.24 liters of pure alcohol per year, and more than 20 percent of adults are regularly drunk, according to experts at the WHO European Regional Conference in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. This puts Europeans at the top of the list worldwide and the consequences for the health of the population are correspondingly serious. Every year, billions in healthcare costs are incurred throughout Europe for the treatment of alcohol-related illnesses. „The countries are well aware of the costs and harms caused by alcohol,“ and, therefore, it is planned to tackle massive alcohol use in the future with the help of a European Action Plan, WHO / Europe Regional Director Zsuzsanna Jakab said at the Wednesday conference.

WHO action plan aims to reduce the number of drinkers
The World Health Organization offers the 53 European states in its „Action Plan to reduce harmful drinking (2012-2020)“ Not only information about the consequences and costs of alcohol consumption, but also a presentation of proven concepts for reducing alcohol-related harm. The antidotes proposed in the WHO Action Plan include, for example, increased alcohol taxes, restrictions on sales and / or store density and opening hours, strict age limits and a reduction in the alcohol limit in road traffic (preferably to 0.0 per thousand). According to WHO experts, governments should use every opportunity to reduce the level of alcohol consumption in the population. In particular, the states in Eastern Europe are called upon to act, since in the last 15 years the consumption of alcohol has increased significantly, whereas in Western European countries since the mid-1990s, a decline was noted, said the experts of the WHO at the regional conference in Azerbaijan. (Fp)

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Picture: A. Reinkober