Mental health policy and practice across Europe: an overview

252 Mental health policy and practice
Europe) (Anderson and Baumberg 2006). Going further east to the countries of
the former Soviet Union, different problems emerge. Alcohol consumption has
been increasing, and patterns of drinking remain particularly harmful, particularly
in terms of injuries and cardiovascular diseases (McKee and Sholnikov
2001; McKee et al. 2001; Rehm et al. 2004). Coupled with this, there remains the
difficulty of policy implementation (World Health Organization 2004a).
Alcohol in Europe
Alcohol consumption
Europe has the highest proportion of drinkers worldwide and has the highest
levels of alcohol consumption per population (Rehm et al. 2003). There has
been a harmonization of drinking levels between the 25 EU countries between
the years 1970 and 2001. This is clearly illustrated in Figure 11.1, which shows
the changes in alcohol consumption for the four countries with the highest
consumption in 1970, and the four countries with the lowest consumption in
1970. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the addition of the ten new countries
has increased the overall consumption of the EU (see Figure 11.2). The
harmonization of drinking levels has also been matched by a harmonization of
drinking patterns and beverage choice (Norström 2001).
Figure 11.1 Alcohol consumption in the four countries with the highest consumption
in 1970, and the four countries with the lowest consumption, EU 1970–2001
Source: World Health Organization (2004c)