Britain on booze: Europeans now drink the equivalent of 460 beers a year, here our fascinating map shows how the UK compares

New data shows that Britons are among the heaviest drinkers in Europe, with men drinking more than three times as much as women.

Men drink 850 pints of beer a year, while women drink the equivalent of 327 glasses of wine.

Britain ranks 18th out of 51 European countries when it comes to alcohol consumption. People drink an average of 2.9 units (23.5 grams of pure alcohol) per day, or 20.3 units per week. That is the equivalent of 10 pints of beer or 13 glasses of wine.

This is well above NHS guidelines which state that adults should drink no more than 14 units per week and on a regular basis.

New figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO) show that Europeans are the world’s biggest drinkers, drinking an average of 9.2 litres of pure alcohol (equivalent to 460 pints) per year.

For comparison, the international average is 5.5 litres (275 pints) per person.

The heaviest drinkers in Europe are in Romania, where men drink the equivalent of 1,365 pints a year and women drink 500 glasses of wine.

British men drink the equivalent of 850 pints of beer containing 3.6% alcohol per year, data shows

According to WHO figures, women in the UK consume the equivalent of 327 small glasses of wine each year

Romanians drink 4.6 units of alcohol per day (36.9 grams of pure alcohol), which is equivalent to almost two and a half pints or three glasses of wine.

In contrast, Turkey was found to drink the least. The predominantly Muslim country has raised alcohol taxes and restricted the availability of drinks, with many residents abstaining for religious reasons.

Italy, known for its love of food and wine, was surprisingly modest, with people drinking the annual equivalent of 635 beers or 233 glasses of wine.

And Albania, one of the world’s top cannabis growers according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, drinks even less, with citizens consuming just 420 beers or 127 glasses of wine per year.

This follows separate data showing a rise in alcohol-related deaths in the UK, mainly due to damage to the liver and other organs.

Dr Gauden Galea, Special Health Advisor to the WHO Director for Europe, said: ‘Looking at the latest global status report on alcohol, one of the WHO regions stands out.

‘The European region continues to have the unenviable reputation of having the highest levels of alcohol consumption and associated harms worldwide, as well as the lowest rates of abstinence.

‘The harms of alcohol can be devastating to health and wellbeing and extend far beyond the person drinking. They can include domestic abuse, injuries, accidents, family breakdown and mental health problems.

‘Countries must make a strong commitment to implementing policies that we know are effective in reducing alcohol consumption.’

According to WHO figures covering 2019, British men drink the equivalent of 17 litres of pure alcohol per year, while women consume less than a third, at 4.9 litres.

One unit is equal to 10ml of pure alcohol, about half a pint. A small glass of wine, 1.5 units, contains about 15ml of pure alcohol.

A pint of beer with an alcohol content of 3.6 percent has two units, but high-alcohol pilsners and IPAs contain significantly more units per glass.

Across Europe, men drank almost four times as much pure alcohol (14.9 litres) per year as women (4.0 litres).

According to the WHO, “little or no progress has been made” in reducing alcohol consumption, in line with the target of a 10 percent reduction in consumption.

The data shows that there were more than 470 million drinkers in Europe in 2019, meaning two out of three adults drank alcohol.

It is estimated that one in ten adults in the region has an alcohol use disorder, and almost one in twenty lives with an alcohol addiction.

The current alcohol limit in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. Malta is the only other European country with such a high limit, while Scotland and much of Europe have a level of 50 milligrams. Some countries have set the bar even lower

Despite these alarming statistics, only 12 of the 53 countries have made significant progress in reducing their alcohol consumption.

Dr Carina Ferreira-Borges, WHO’s alcohol advisor, said: ‘The high levels of alcohol consumption and associated harms in Europe are a clear sign that we are not doing enough.

“We are paying a high price for our negligence. Alcohol is the cause of hundreds of thousands of cardiovascular diseases and injuries, cancer and cirrhosis of the liver in our region.”

Alcohol is a major cause of death in Europe, accounting for almost 800,000 deaths each year, or 9 percent of all deaths in the region.

Every day, about 2,200 Europeans die from alcohol-related causes, mainly from heart disease and cancer linked to drinking.

According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), alcohol is one of the most important ‘Group 1’ carcinogens in the world.

The WHO has controversially recommended that countries increase taxes on alcohol, restrict its marketing and reduce its availability to reduce deaths.

A project in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia found that people drank less alcohol and lived longer after alcohol control measures were introduced.

Dr Galea said: ‘We have the tools and the knowledge to reduce alcohol consumption and related harms. What we now need is the political will to implement these evidence-based policies.

“We must accelerate our efforts and commit to the necessary changes to protect the health and well-being of our people.”

Alcohol-related deaths have been rising in the UK for decades. However, in March 2020, following the first national lockdown, the number shot up and got worse.

Data from the Office for National Statistics, which excludes ‘alcohol-related’ diseases such as cancer, shows that most deaths are linked to long-term alcohol problems and dependence. Alcoholic liver disease accounts for 76 per cent of cases.

In 2022, more than 500 people died from accidental or intentional alcohol poisoning.

ARE YOU DRINKING TOO MUCH ALCOHOL? 10 QUESTIONS THAT REVEAL YOUR RISK

A screening tool that is widely used by medical professionals is the AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Tests). This 10-question test was developed in collaboration with the World Health Organization and is considered the gold standard for determining whether someone has problems with alcohol abuse.

The test is reproduced here with permission from the WHO.

To complete it, answer each question and record the corresponding score.

YOUR SCORE:

0-7: You drink within the healthy alcohol consumption range and have a low risk of alcohol-related problems.

More than 8: Indicate that there is harmful or dangerous drinking.

8-15: Medium risk level. If you drink at your current level, you are at risk of developing problems with your health and life in general, such as work and relationships. Consider cutting down (see below for tips).

16-19: Higher risk of complications from alcohol. Cutting down on your own at this level can be difficult as you may be dependent, so you may need professional help from your GP and/or a counsellor.

20 years and older: Possible dependency. Your drinking is already causing you problems and you could very well be dependent. You should definitely consider quitting gradually or at least reducing your drinking. You should seek professional help to determine the extent of your dependency and the safest way to quit alcohol.

Severe dependence may require medically assisted withdrawal or detox in a hospital or specialist clinic. This is due to the potential for severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the first 48 hours that require specialist treatment.