The average Briton consumes the equivalent of 108 bottles of wine a year – far more than the rest of the Western world – according to a major new report published today.
The figures were revealed in the ‘Health at a Glance 2019’ report compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and show that Britons over the age of 15 consume 9.7 litres of pure alcohol each annually.
This is equal to 108 bottles of 12% wine or 342 pints of 5% beer, and is 800 mL more pure alcohol per year that the average American drinker consumes.
American drinkers consume an average of 8.9 L of pure ethanol which is also the mean average of all nations polled for the report.
The data are based on sales of alcoholic beverages in 2017 across 44 countries and form part of a report on the health and wellbeing of populations in developed countries across the world.
As well as the USA, British drinkers consume more alcohol than their Spanish and Italian counterparts, but lag behind France – where they drink 11.7 L each year – and Germany, where the average consumption is 10.9 L.
Lithuania tops the list, followed by Austria, France, the Czech Republic, Luxembourg and Ireland. At the other end of the scale, Turkey, Israel, India, Costa Rica, Mexico and Colombia all drink fewer than five litres each.
The report warns that the levels of alcohol consumption among Britons is far above the OECD average and amounts to a public health issue. ‘Many British people lead unhealthy lifestyles. Alcohol consumption is a public health issue,’ it states.
It also flags up the relationship between consumption and dependency across the world, and here the UK’s proportion of drinkers classed as ‘dependent’ was among the lowest, despite alcohol consumption being higher than average.
Access the full Health at a Glance 2019 report HERE.
