ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION WILL BE RESTRICTED IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

Mon 11 September 2023:

According to Yeşilay’s study, titled ‘An Examination of Alcohol Control Policies,’ several governments around the world, particularly European states, have enacted steps to restrict alcohol consumption.

The report highlights that countries such as Croatia, Hungary, Finland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Malta, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, and Latvia have implemented partial restrictions on alcohol consumption in parks and gardens. It also emphasizes that in countries like Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania, alcohol consumption in public areas has been banned.

According to the data in the research, the number of countries in the European region that prohibit alcohol consumption in public areas is increasing. The report also points out that in countries like Bulgaria, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Romania, Spain, Slovenia, and Slovakia, alcohol consumption during sports events is strictly prohibited. It is also noted that in Austria, the Czech Republic, France.

Europe is home to the world’s heaviest drinkers

Among the 10 countries that drink the most in the world, nine are in the EU. But there are big differences between nations.

Each year in Europe, every person aged 15 and over consumes, on average, 9.5 litres of pure alcohol, which is equivalent to around 190 litres of beer, 80 litres of wine or 24 litres of spirits.

That’s according to the 2021 European health report by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Total alcohol consumption per capita decreased by 2.5 litres (21 per cent) between 2000 and 2019 in the WHO European Region, which covers a vast geographical area of 53 countries including Russia and former Soviet states like Moldova.

Which country drinks the most in Europe?

In 2019, the top 10 European countries with the highest alcohol consumption per capita were Czechia (14.3 litres), Latvia (13.2), Moldova (12.9), Germany (12.8), Lithuania (12.8), Ireland (12.7), Spain (12.7), Bulgaria (12.5), Luxembourg (12.4), and Romania (12.3).

The top 10 countries that consume the least alcohol across the WHO European Region are Tajikistan (0.9 litres), Azerbaijan (1.0), Turkey (1.8), Uzbekistan (2.6), Turkmenistan (3.1), Israel (4.4), Armenia (4.7), Kazakhstan (5.0), Albania (6.8), and North Macedonia (6.4).

It’s worth noting that most countries in this list, except for North Macedonia, Armenia and Israel, have Muslim-majority populations, for whom the consumption of alcohol is prohibited and condemned.

The deadly toll of alcohol

The WHO links alcohol to 30 per cent of deaths from unintentional injuries, such as drowning and road traffic accidents, and to 39 per cent of deaths from intentional injuries, such as suicide and homicide.

Drinking is also associated with unsafe psychological and social consequences, including initiating young adults into other substances and unprotected sex, which ultimately play a role in the transmission of diseases, such as HIV and viral hepatitis.

The WHO estimates that alcohol causes almost 1 million deaths annually across the WHO European Region, and 3 million deaths worldwide.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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