Alcohol misuse: tackling the UK epidemic - London

BMA Board of Science
Alcohol consumption in the UK
Per capita alcohol consumption
Alcohol consumption in the UK has varied considerably over the past century (see Figure 1). 4
At the
beginning of the 20th century, national per capita alcohol consumption a
was higher than at any
point in the subsequent years. The level of consumption declined significantly during the First World
War and remained relatively low during the inter-war period and the Second World War. Since
1950, consumption rose from 3.9 litres per capita per year to a peak of 9.4 in 2004. 5
Per capita
consumption subsequently fell to 8.9 litres in 2006. 5
Despite this recent decline, per capita
consumption in the UK has remained consistently above 7 litres per capita per year since 1980,
while consumption in other European countries including France, Italy and Spain has fallen steadily
over the same period. 6
Comparison of per capita consumption among adults aged 15 and over
shows the UK to be among the heaviest alcohol consuming countries in Europe (see Figure 2).
Data on per capita consumption are not available for the devolved UK nations.
It is important to note that data on per capita consumption are based on tax-paid sales and do not
account for unrecorded alcohol consumption resulting from legal or illegal home-made production,
imported alcohol (including small-scale and large-scale smuggling and legally imported alcohol for
personal use), and alcohol consumed by foreign visitors. It is likely that per capita consumption data are
reasonably accurate for countries such as Australia and the USA where such factors are negligible.
Nonetheless, cross border regulations in the EU and the relative ease of travel within Europe means that
per capita data for European countries are likely to be less accurate. 7
It has been estimated that the
approximate level of unrecorded consumption in Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and the UK is two
litres of 100 per cent alcohol per inhabitant aged 15 or over. 7
There is a need to improve data on per
capita consumption to include not only tax-paid data for all the countries in the UK, but also regular
published estimates of the amount of alcohol being imported outside of the tax regime.
Figure 1 – per capita alcohol consumption in the UK (litres of pure alcohol)
Litres of pure alcohol per head
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
1900
1905
1910
1915
1920
Source: Statistical handbook 2007 (British Beer and Pub Association, 2007)
1925
1930
1935
1940
1945
1950
1955
Year
Ready-to-drink
drinks (alcopops)
Wine
Spirits
Cider
Beer
a Per capita alcohol consumption refers to the number of litres per head of pure (100%) alcohol.
Alcohol misuse: tackling the UK epidemic 11
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005