New data from the 2007 GHS published: 37% of adults exceed regular daily drinking limit

The Office for National Statistics has published data on alcohol consumption from the 2007 General Household Survey(GHS), and also from the Opinions (Omnibus) survey report on drinking in 2008. 

Highlights from Smoking and drinking among adults, 2007 (GHS 2007):

• Over a third of adults exceeded the daily limits for regular drinking on at least one day during the week before interview despite growing awareness of safe drinking levels:  37% of adults exceeded the benchmark
• 20% per cent of adults consumed more than double the benchmark on their heaviest drinking day of the week
• The proportion of people who exceeded the daily limits for regular drinking on at least one day during the previous week was higher for men (41%) than it was for women (34%)
• The proportion drinking heavily (more than twice the benchmark) on that day was also greater for men (24%) than for women (15%)
• More people in ‘managerial and professional’ households exceeded the daily limits on their heaviest drinking day of the week (43%) than those in ‘routine and manual’ households (31%)

The ONS Opinions (Omnibus) Survey Drinking: adults’ behaviour and knowledge in 2008 asked people about where they drank on their heaviest drinking day in the previous week. According to the report the home is the most popular place for alcohol consumption on that day, with:

•  women most likely to have drunk at home (60%) or in someone else’s home (11%), whilst only 17% of women drinkers had been in a pub or bar
• 45% of men had drunk at home and 9% in someone else’s home, whereas 35% had been in a pub or bar
• women in ‘managerial and professional’ occupations were more likely than those in ‘routine and manual’ occupations to have been drinking at home (67% compared with 57%), and less likely to have been drinking in a pub or bar (14% and 25% respectively)
• for men, there was no clear pattern of variation in drinking at home according to socio-economic classification, but those in ‘managerial and professional’ occupations were less likely to have drunk in a pub or bar than those in other occupational groups.
• 86% of people have heard of measuring alcohol consumption in units, compared with 75% 10 years earlier. Over this same period, there has also been an increase in the proportion who had heard of the daily recommended maximum number of units (sensible drinking benchmarks) from 58% to 70%. Having heard of daily recommended maximum number of units did not necessarily mean that people knew what these were. Only about two-fifths (38%) of people correctly thought that, for men, three or four units was the recommended daily maximum and slightly more (44%) of people correctly thought that, for women, two or three units was the recommended daily maximum.
• Some of the risks associated with drinking are more widely known about than others. Nearly everyone (96%) was aware that drinking increases the risk of accidents and the risk of liver disease. The majority of people were aware that alcohol consumption increases the risk of depression (82%), hypertension (78%) and coronary heart disease (73%). Fewer people (but still a majority) were aware that drinking can also increase the risk of stroke (66%) and pancreatitis (59%).