References to non-CDC sites on the Internet are provided as a service to MMWR readers and do not constitute or imply endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the U.S. A .gov https://ecosoberhouse.com/ website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. These are increases of 27% among boys and men, and 35% among girls and women from just a few years earlier (2016–2017).

Rate of premature deaths due to alcohol

Unconditional lifetime prevalence of AUDs shows a clear positive trend with country income level, increasing from 5.9% for AUDs in low/lower-middle income countries to 7.2% in upper-middle income countries and 10.3% in high-income countries. Comparisons of AUD diagnoses by income group remain significant when conditioning upon lifetime use of alcohol but the trend was less consistent. Comparing between WHO regions, prevalence rates of AUDs were lowest among the Eastern Mediterranean surveys and highest among the Western Pacific surveys, regardless of whether conditioning on alcohol use or not. Table 2 shows the lifetime prevalence of alcohol use, ALA, ALD and AUDs for each of the surveys, the countries combined, the countries grouped by World Bank income levels, and the WHO regions. There are significant differences in base rate prevalences of lifetime alcohol use and all DSM-IV diagnoses across countries, income levels and regions, as well as significant differences in prevalences when considered only among non-abstainers.

Share of adults who drink alcohol

A large difference was also found in South Africa comparing the AUD prevalence in the general population (11.5%) and among users (28.3%). The average past year prevalence of AUD for all countries was 0.9% for women, ranging from no past year cases in Iraq and Nigeria to 2.6% in Australia. The average past year prevalence for all countries was 3.6% for men ranging from 0.2% in Iraq to 11.6% in the Ukraine. Among women, the average lifetime prevalence of AUD for all countries was 3.4% ranging from no lifetime cases in Iraq to 12.1% in Australia. The average lifetime prevalence of AUDs for men was 14.1% for all countries and ranges from 1.4% in Iraq to 33.4% in Australia. In all surveys, the prevalence estimates of both lifetime and 12-month AUDs were higher for men than women.

Data Sources and Measures

As we see, following prohibition, levels of alcohol consumption returned to similar levels as in the pre-prohibition period. With the change country feature, it is possible to view the same data for other countries. Sweden, for example, increased the share of wine consumption and, therefore, reduced the share of spirits. When we look at gender differences, we see that in all countries, men have a higher alcohol consumption than women.

This is given as the share of adults aged 15 years and older who have drunk alcohol within the previous year. They include deaths where the primary (or underlying) cause of death listed on the death certificate was one of 58 alcohol-related causes. Alcohol-related deaths increased among all age groups (during 2020–2021) from just a few years earlier (2016–2017).

All visualizations, data, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited. Whilst the World Health Organization (WHO) and most national guidelines typically Alcoholism Statistics quantify one unit of alcohol as equal to 10 grams of pure alcohol, the metric used as a ‘standard measure’ can vary across countries. It is possible to switch this data to any other country or region in the world. Both are measured in terms of pure alcohol/ethanol intake rather than the total quantity of the beverage.

Added to these costs is the toll on people’s health, quality of life, safety, and well-being. The data produced by third parties and made available by Our World in Data is subject to the license terms from the original third-party authors. We will always indicate the original source of the data in our documentation, so you should always check the license of any such third-party data before use and redistribution. All material appearing in this report is in the public domain and may be reproduced or copied without permission; citation as to source, however, is appreciated. All authors have completed and submitted the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. Adam Sherk reports institutional support from the Canadian Cancer Society and Canadian Institutes for Health Research.

Drink Aware

During each period, among all excessive alcohol use cause of death categories, death rates among males were highest from 100% alcohol-attributable chronic conditions. There is evidence that in Europe, North America, and Australia adolescent levels of drinking have declined in recent years, perhaps in relation to changing socio-environmental factors44–48. Increases in deaths from excessive alcohol use during the study period occurred among all age groups. A recent study found that one in eight total deaths among U.S. adults aged 20–64 years during 2015–2019 resulted from excessive alcohol use (9). Because of the increases in these deaths during 2020–2021, including among adults in the same age group, excessive alcohol use could account for an even higher proportion of total deaths during that 2-year period.

• When excluding alcohol abstainers, the Western Pacific surveys had the highest prevalence estimates for past year ALA (3.3%), ALD (2.5%) and AUD (5.8%).
• A recent study found that one in eight total deaths among U.S. adults aged 20–64 years during 2015–2019 resulted from excessive alcohol use (9).
• However, previous studies of trends have not assessed underlying causes of deaths that are partially attributable to alcohol use, such as injuries or certain types of cancer.