European champion in alcohol consumption

Southern Europeans today drink significantly less alcohol than they did 40 years ago

06/26/2012

Europeans drink by far the most alcohol in the world. However, the development of recent decades in the individual European countries has been extremely different. For example, alcohol consumption declined significantly in many southern European countries, whereas in Eastern Europe, for example, there was a further increase.

While alcohol consumption in Germany has remained relatively constant since the 1970s, the southern European countries recorded a significant decline, reported Professor Dr. Jürgen Rehm from the Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy of the Technische Universität Dresden on Tuesday in Berlin. As a representative of „Initiative for Active Alcohol Therapy "(AktivA) at a World Drug Day event, Rehm presents a report from the Initiative on Alcohol Use in Germany, providing an insight into the international evolution of alcohol consumption based on data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Alcohol consumption in southern Europe has been significantly reduced since 1970
It is clear from the figures presented that Europeans have been the world leaders in terms of alcohol use for years. On average, every European over the age of 15 years in 2009 drunk about 12.5 liters of pure alcohol, reports Prof. Rehm. This is „European alcohol consumption more than twice as high as the global one“, quoted the news agency „dpa“ the statement of the psychologist of the Technical University of Dresden. In Germany, according to Prof. Rehm, alcohol consumption averaged 12.9 liters per year, slightly above the European average. For decades, alcohol consumption in Germany has remained at about the same level. However, the situation is different in southern Europe, where for years a decline in alcohol consumption can be observed. According to Prof. Rehm have „The entire southern European countries have at least halved their alcohol consumption in the past 30 to 40 years.“ For example, the Italians drank 19 liters of alcohol per year in 1970, in 2009 it was only seven liters, reported the expert. The development in Spain, Portugal and France was comparable, according to Rehm. According to the psychologist of the TU Dresden, the main causes of this decline in alcohol consumption were the ever shorter lunch breaks (Siesta) and the rise in alcohol prices.

Rising alcohol consumption in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia
While alcohol consumption in southern Europe is declining, according to the expert in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, an opposite trend can be observed. This also applies to Great Britain and Ireland, where for several years more will be drunk, reports Rehm. For example, in the United Kingdom, alcohol consumption rose from about seven liters in 1970 to almost eleven liters in 2009. All in all, quite a lot is drunk in Europe on a regular basis, but the drinking patterns observed here are not as problematic as in other regions of the world, „where the majority of drinking opportunities lead to intoxication“, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rehm. Such a drinking of the intoxication state, carries a particularly high risk of alcohol dependence, whereas drinking to enjoyment, without subsequent intoxication, less risk-burdened. Critical in this context is the so-called binge drinking, which has also reached a worrying level among German adolescents in recent years. Here, in addition to the acute health risks, such as alcohol poisoning, there is also an increased risk of alcohol dependence.

Millions of Germans dependent on alcohol
At a symposium on active alcohol therapy in the Berlin Charité, Prof. Rehm will present the comprehensive results of the World Drug Day (26 June) „Alcohol Comparator Report 2012“ in front. As the „Initiative for an active alcohol therapy“ reports, it should also underline the need for action. After all, alcohol problems in adults have long ceased to be a marginal problem for society. round „1.3 million Germans are alcoholic, 9.5 million drink alcohol in a risky manner“, AktivA reports on its own website. Improved prevention and awareness-raising of vulnerable groups should therefore, in the view of the initiative, be urgent health policy objectives. „Only an active and open approach to the disease will enable society to find ways out of alcohol addiction“, so the conclusion of AktivA. (Fp)

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