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With an average annual consumption of 9.2 litres of pure alcohol per capita, Europeans are the biggest drinkers in the world, according to a statement released Thursday by the European division of the World Health Organization (WHO).
“The European region continues to hold the unenviable record of the highest levels of alcohol consumption and related harm in the world“, said Dr Gauden Galea, a WHO Europe official quoted in the statement, based on the latest available data, in 2019.
In the countries of the European Union, “There have been no significant changes in alcohol consumption levels for more than ten years“, deplores the World Health Organization.
Residents of the Americas come in second place according to the latest WHO report published in June on global alcohol consumption, with an average of 7.5 liters each year.
In detail, it is men who have the highest alcohol consumption in Europe: 14.9 litres per year on average, four times more than women (four litres per year).
One in ten adults (11%) in Europe suffers from an alcohol use disorder and almost one in twenty lives with alcohol dependence (5.9%), underlines WHO Europe, which brings together 53 countries in Europe and Central Asia.
“In Europe, alcohol is a major cause of death with around 800,000 deaths each year.” she notes.
It causes many non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases.
These diseases”are responsible for 90% of all deaths in the region (defined by WHO) and 85% of years lived with disability“, according to the WHO.
The organization urges European countries “to increase taxes on alcoholic beverages, implement comprehensive restrictions on the marketing of alcohol and reduce the availability of alcohol“.
Alcohol kills 2.6 million people worldwide each year, a figure that remains “unacceptably high” according to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.