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Global alcohol consumption

Drinking habits

Feb 14th 2011, 13:01 by The Economist online

A map of world alcohol consumption

THE world drank the equivalent of 6.1 litres of pure alcohol per person in 2005, according to a report from the World Health Organisation published on February 11th. The biggest boozers are mostly found in Europe and in the former Soviet states. Moldovans are the most bibulous, getting through 18.2 litres each, nearly 2 litres more than the Czechs in second place. Over 10 litres of a Moldovan's annual intake is reckoned to be 'unrecorded' home-brewed liquor, making it particularly harmful to health. Such moonshine accounts for almost 30% of the world's drinking. The WHO estimates that alcohol results in 2.5m deaths a year, more than AIDS or tuberculosis. In Russia and its former satellite states one in five male deaths is caused by drink.


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Zambino wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 1:09 GMT

So, the conclusion being that not only have Australians lost the ability to play test cricket, but they don't even know how to drink properly anymore.

Kunkka wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 1:48 GMT

I think there is a geographical reason for the alcohol problem. The Russia who drink most alcohol according to the report live in a very cold place of the world. They had to drink hard drinks in order to keep themselves warm in the past,and the drinking habit has become a tradition now. I think it is also one of the reasons why the people live near the equator drink much less alcohol.

Feb 14th 2011 1:50 GMT

The topic of debate on facebook is now why Sweden and Norway are letting the side down

mr.bungle wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 1:59 GMT

The chart shows consumption by people aged 15+. So I guess it means total sales divided by population of 15+. So this is grossly misleading. In Eastern Europe we start drinking at the age of 8, so if you divided the consumption by the total number of actual consumers, we wouldn't be in the red zone. We are healthier than the chart shows ;-)

ISEE wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 2:00 GMT

Northern Chinese drink pretty hard with hard liquor. South drink lightly. There seems a pattern here.

rarcher20 wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 2:01 GMT

@kunkka

I dont think you can draw that conclussion. Canada and parts of the US get pretty cold and they didnt rank that high. Plus, look at Portugal, warm weather big drinker.

Fadeaway wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 2:14 GMT

mmmmmm good data so I am from Jordan and We don't play Football well, suck at the Olympics, have absolutely no show in Global Music and Arts, still are on the first steps in democracy, and now are also grouped with the (2.5 or Less) in alcohol ??? - We get the Kids meal in alcoholic drinking :) "Them Jordanians, they are still learning how to drink :)"

1 in 5 in Russia and the CIS countries die of alcohol. Isn't that a little too high? Source Please, thank you.

LaContra wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 2:18 GMT

Why Sweden and Norway are letting the side down?

Have you ever bought liquor at one of their Systembolaget or a Vinmonopolet stores (respectively)?
The Governments run a monopoly on alcohol sales (anything over 3%) to keep the prices extortionate and supposedly to help keep abuse down! Outrageous prices and restricted store operating hours to boot!

I suppose if they use pure alcohol as the measure then the Australian preference for wine and beer rather than hard liquor might explain their poor showing on the map (but not their lousy cricket performance!)

So come to Ukraine where a litre of the best premium domestic vodka, Khortitsa, costs 28uah ($3.50 or 2.60euro)....

That's cheaper than Perrier Water!

(Vodka is even cheaper in Russia...but really, Ukrainian Vodka is superior)

LaContra wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 2:24 GMT

fadeaway.

I think the 1 in 5 figure may include alcohol related accidents and mishaps...when one takes into account drink driving, men who fall asleep drunk outside in winter and freeze to death, and alcohol related deaths in the workplace, then 20% is not unlikely at all

Michael Dunne wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 2:48 GMT

For the inhabitants near the equator, maybe it is an urban middle class vs rurual or poor? Just speculating here.

I seem to recall that the Peruvians drank their share at the clubs in San Miguel, Mira Flores, Barranco, Monterrico, etc.

Also, I recalled Brazilians drinking quite a bit, and that comes from trips down there both in June/July time frames as well as around New Years.

Good to see the US lower than Europe. Seems like Europeans were once big on harping on how they didn't drink to get drunk (until Binge Britannia could no longer be kept out of sight, or remembered the Russians, Finns, Irish, October Fest, etc.).

Feb 14th 2011 3:01 GMT

Sirs,

Well, according to the map, the Middle East is good for something other than oil and war!

Of course, it would be interesting to overlay the map with opium production, prescription drug abuse, tobacco usage and saturated fat intake.

Regards.

Mongolongo wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 3:06 GMT

Alcohol affects people and etnicities differently. The inuit in Greenland have a huge problem with alcohol, and judging by their consumption per person, they do not seem so. Compare sake and vodka in terms of their actual alcohol content... countries in red are not drunks, they can just hold their liquor better than the rest - so they need more for the same effect! -.

Ok, being a red country is not healthy but I think we should point out that despite this we remain fully functioning individuals, by and large.

luso_star wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 3:24 GMT

I would like to see a chart representing the correlation between the quantity of pure alcohol drunk by person and the life expectancy in that country.

Maybe we would conclude : the more you drink the more you live!

Stebillan wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 3:38 GMT

Seems then that there is no correlation between the amount of alcohol consumed and economic and political development. In much of South America, drinking is prohibited during elections and look at the lot we have in charge in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

Faedrus wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 3:55 GMT

Interesting stuff.

One next step, and a relatively easy one at that, would be to run correlations on the data.

As mentioned in earlier comments, possible correlations look pretty simple to start, and appear to include:

- Avg. daily temperature/length of winters.
- Medium incomes.
- Being Russian (or Slavic).
- Local dominant religion (Islam, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist)
- Ability of local populations to metabolically process alcohol.

Just looking broadly at the data, the above indicators appear to explain much of the variance within the map.

JGradus wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 4:31 GMT

I need to move home to Sweden and get us proper into the red.

augwhite wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 5:00 GMT

What happened in Iceland? Years ago, Iceland was famous for alcoholism. Here, it shows up as practically tea-total by northern hemisphere standards.

amadisdegaula wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 5:29 GMT

I suppose that is not what WHO meant, but as far as I can tell from this chart, alcohol consumption is actually a force for good. I for one would be the first to produce less and become more unhappy

egeli wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 5:33 GMT

Turks drink the most in the Muslim world.

amadisdegaula wrote:
Feb 14th 2011 5:35 GMT

I suppose that is not what WHO meant, but as far as I can tell from this chart, alcohol consumption is actually a force for good and progress. I for one would be the first to produce less and become more unhappy should some "enlightened" doctor try to remove my occasional glass of wine.

And this brings the elephant in the room - how much more harm, beyond the obvious violence it generates, the prohibition of other so-called "drugs" are inflicting in our civilization? Perhaps if you think that, say, marijuana is an evil, you should drop by the middle east and ask how they are going about their own drug war against alcohol. I'm sure they'll be glad to see their holy ideals have a counterpart in the civilized world!

1-20 of 104

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