Alcohol kills almost 3 million people every year, says WHO

Geneva:

Alcohol kills almost three million people annually, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, adding that although the death rate has fallen slightly in recent years, it remains “unacceptably high”.

The United Nations health agency’s latest report on alcohol and health states that alcohol causes almost one in 20 deaths globally every year, through drink-driving, alcohol-induced violence and abuse, and a multitude of diseases and disorders.

The report states that 2.6 million deaths were attributed to alcohol consumption in 2019 – the latest statistics available – representing 4.7% of all deaths worldwide that year.

Nearly three-quarters of those deaths were in men, he said.

“Substance use seriously harms individual health, increasing the risk of chronic diseases and mental health problems, and tragically resulting in millions of preventable deaths every year,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

He highlighted that there has been “some reduction in alcohol consumption and related harms worldwide since 2010”.

“(But) the social and health burden of alcohol consumption remains unacceptably high,” he continued, highlighting that younger people were disproportionately affected.

The highest proportion of deaths attributable to alcohol in 2019 – 13% – occurred among people aged 20 to 39, the WHO said.

Cancer, car accidents

Drinking is linked to a number of health problems, including cirrhosis of the liver and some types of cancer.

Of all the deaths it caused in 2019, the report concluded that around 1.6 million were caused by non-communicable diseases.

Of these, 474,000 were from cardiovascular diseases, 401,000 from cancer and a huge 724,000 from injuries, including traffic accidents and self-harm.

Alcohol abuse also makes people more susceptible to infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV and pneumonia, the report concluded.

It is estimated that 209 million people were living with alcohol dependence in 2019 – 3.7% of the global population.

Total per capita consumption worldwide decreased slightly to 5.5 liters of alcohol in 2019 from 5.7 liters nine years earlier, the report found.

But overall alcohol consumption is unevenly distributed across the world.

Well over half of the world’s population over the age of 15 abstains completely.

Europe was, by far, responsible for the highest levels of per capita consumption, with 9.2 liters, followed by the Americas with 7.5 liters.

The lowest consumption occurred in predominantly Muslim countries in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia, according to the report.

Heavy drinkers

Among people who drank alcohol in 2019, the report determined they consumed an average of 27 grams of pure alcohol per day.

This is approximately equivalent to two glasses of wine, two small bottles of beer or two shots of spirits.

“This level and frequency of alcohol consumption is associated with increased risks of numerous health conditions and associated mortality and disability,” warned the WHO.

In 2019, 38 percent of current consumers acknowledged binge drinking, defined as consuming at least 60 grams of pure alcohol on one or more occasions in the previous month.

Globally, 23.5% of young people aged between 15 and 19 were considered current drinkers.

This number jumped to more than 45% for people in this age group living in Europe and to almost 44% in the Americas.

The WHO said it was essential to improve access to quality treatment for substance use disorders.

In 2019, the proportion of people who contacted these treatment services ranged from less than one percent to 35 percent in the countries that provided this data.

“Stigma, discrimination and misconceptions about treatment effectiveness contribute to these critical gaps in treatment delivery,” Vladimir Poznyak, head of the WHO unit for alcohol, drugs and addictive behaviors, told reporters.

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