Prevalence – alcohol

Alcohol dependence prevalence in England
Estimates of the number of alcohol dependent adults in each local authority in England. The statistics have been updated with alcohol dependence estimates for 2019 to 2020 and a section called ‘Estimates of alcohol dependent adults in England: summary’. has also been added | OHID, UK

The Sober Myth: Are Young Adults Really a Generation of Non-Drinkers?
The proportion of young adults who do not drink has increased from 14% in 2017 to 21% in 2023 while remaining relatively stable among the rest of the population (approx. 13%). Young adult drinkers are less likely than the rest of the population to drink weekly or more often (46% vs 56%) and less likely to drink above the Chief Medical Officers’ (CMOs) low risk drinking guidelines (17% vs 20%). Young adult drinkers are the age group most likely to binge drink in the UK (74% vs 63% of drinkers aged 25 and over). However, the prevalence of binge drinking has fallen for both groups since 2017 (from 82% among young adult drinkers and 66% among drinkers aged 25 and over) | Drinkaware, UK

Statistics on Alcohol, England 2021 (2022)
280 thousand estimated admissions to hospital in 2019/20 where the main reason was attributable to alcohol. 2% higher than 2018/19 and 8% higher than 2016/17 | NHS Digital, UK

Alcohol consumption and harm during the COVID-19 pandemic (2021)
A report collating data on alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm in England during the COVID-19 pandemic and comparing it to data from previous years | PHE, UK

Alcohol Bulletin commentary (November 2020 to January 2021)
The 2020 to 2021 financial year has seen significant economic impacts from the coronavirus pandemic which vary across different alcohol duties. The provisional 2020 to 2021 financial year to date (April 2020 to January 2021) total for alcohol duty receipts is £10,626 million, an increase of £109 million (1.0%) compared to the same period during 2019 to 2020 | HMRC, UK

Monitoring and Evaluating Scotland’s Alcohol Strategy (MESAS) (2021)
The problems caused by alcohol in Scotland remain at a high level and in recent years associated harms have started to rise. This report provides recommendations of what more needs to be done to ensure improvements continue. This includes evidence in support of the introduction of minimum unit pricing and continued monitoring of key alcohol statistics. Briefing paper here (PDF) | Public Health Scotland, UK

Statistics on Alcohol, England (2020)
This publication provides a range of information relating to alcohol use and misuse.Topics covered include: alcohol-related hospital admissions; alcohol-specific deaths; prescriptions for drugs used to treat alcohol dependence; drinking behaviours among adults and children; road casualties involving illegal alcohol levels and affordability of alcohol | NHS Digital, UK

Alcohol-specific deaths in UK: registered in 2018, 2019
There were 7,551 deaths registered in the UK in 2018 that related to alcohol-specific causes, lower than the previous year’s 7,697 deaths but still the second highest since the time series began in 2001 | ONS, UK

Alcohol dependence prevalence in England (2019)
The spreadsheet contains estimates on the number of adults who are dependent on alcohol in each local authority in England | PHE, UK

Statistics on Alcohol, England 2019 [PAS]
This statistical report presents a range of information on alcohol use and misuse by adults and children drawn together from a variety of sources for England unless otherwise stated | NHS Digital, UK

Statistical bulletin: Adult drinking habits in Great Britain: 2017, 2018
Teetotalism, drinking in the week before interview, frequent drinking and units drunk, including changes in drinking patterns in recent years | ONS, UK

Statistics on Alcohol, 2018
This statistical report presents a range of information on alcohol use and misuse by adults and children drawn together from a variety of sources for England unless otherwise stated | NHS Digital, UK

Hospital admissions, deaths and overall burden of disease attributable to alcohol consumption in Scotland, 2018
This report provides an estimate of the number of patient admissions, deaths and overall burden of disease attributable to alcohol in Scotland | ScotPHO, UK

Health Survey for England, 2015 (published December 2016)
Latest statistics on adult and child smoking, e-cig use, alcohol use and obesity | NHS Digital, UK

Alcohol consumption and harm among under 18 year olds, 2016
Evidence from multiple sources shows that risk taking behaviour among young people is declining at a population level. However, levels of alcohol consumption among United Kingdom (UK) youth are higher than the European average and there are groups of young people who are taking risks and experiencing harm | PHE, UK

Statistics on Alcohol, 2016
This briefing provides a summary of statistics on drinking alcohol among adults in Great Britain and children in England. Data on alcohol related hospital admissions in England and Scotland and alcohol related deaths in England is also shown | House of Commons Library, UK

Growing up unequal: gender and socioeconomic differences in young people’s health and well-being, 2016 (PDF)
Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC), a WHO collaborative cross-national study, has provided information about the health, well-being, social environment and health behaviour of 11-, 13- and 15-year-old boys and girls for over 30 years. This latest international report from the study presents findings from the 2013/2014 survey, which collected data from almost 220 000 young people in 42 countries in Europe and North America | WHO, Switzerland

Opinions and Lifestyle Survey: adult drinking habits in Great Britain 2014, 2016
Teetotalism, drinking in the week before interview, binge drinking (heavy episodic drinking) and frequent drinking, updated with 2014 data | ONS, UK

Global status report on alcohol and health, 2014 (PDF)
This report provides a global overview of alcohol consumption in relation to public health (Chapter 1) as well as information on: the consumption of alcohol in populations (Chapter 2); the health consequences of alcohol consumption (Chapter 3); and policy responses at national level (Chapter 4) | WHO, Switzerland