Mental health policy and practice across Europe: an overview

Addiction and alcohol 261
Table 11.4 Summary of studies looking at the social cost of alcohol
Country
Year of
cost
Total cost
per capita
(PPS) 1
Health 2
Crime 3
Mortality 4
Absenteeism 4
Belgium 1999 586 2.6% – 0.5% 0.00%
Denmark
Finland 1990 496–850 0.9–1.4% 13–14% 0.6–1.0% 0.05–0.06%
France 1997 261–310 2.4% 0.04–0.05%
Germany 1995 254 2.3% 0.4% 0.08%
Ireland 2003 556 4.4% 8% 0.78%
Italy 1994 134–153 1.7–1.9% 0.1–0.2% 0.17–0.18%
Netherlands 2000 192 0.3% 14% 0.06%
Norway 2001 429–472 0.7–1.3% 2% 0.1% 0.10–0.11%
Portugal 1995 73 0.5% 1% 0.1% 0.00%
UK (Scotland) 2001–2 296–360 1.4% 14% 0.09%
Slovak Republic 1994 292 4.9% 17% 0.5% 0.66%
Slovenia 2002 50 0.5% 0.3% 0.01%
Spain 1998 129 2.4% 3% 0.14%
Sweden 1998 1,194 5.5% 4% 1.0% 0.71%
UK (England
& Wales)
2001 485–527 2.8–3.3% 11% 0.3% 0.14–0.20%
1
Inflated to 2003 prices using the Consumer Price Index (base Euro); 2 as a % of total health
expenditure; 3 as a % of total public order expenditure; 4 as a % of GDP.
* Figures in bold are higher quality studies
Source: Anderson and Baumberg (2006)
Policy options to reduce the harm done by alcohol
Over the last 25 years considerable progress has been made in the scientific
understanding of the relationship between alcohol policies, alcohol consumption
and alcohol-related harm (Bruun et al. 1975; Edwards et al. 1994; Babor
et al. 2003). The evidence finds three types of policies that are effective in
reducing alcohol’s burden (see Table 11.5): 1) population-based policies such as
those on taxation, advertising, regulation of the density of outlets, hours and
days of sale, drinking locations and minimum drinking ages; 2) problemdirected
policies aimed at specific alcohol-related problems such as drinkdriving;
and 3) interventions directed at individual drinkers, such as primary
care based brief interventions for hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption.
In general, effectiveness is strong for the regulation of physical availability
and the use of alcohol taxes (Babor et al. 2003). Given the broad reach of these