Statistics on Alcohol, England 2010

    

The annual NHS alcohol data report has been published by the NHS information centre.

Download Statistics on Alcohol, England 2010

The report aims to present a broad picture of health issues relating to alcohol in England and covers topics such as drinking habits and behaviours among adults  and school children, drinking-related mortality, affordability of alcohol and alcohol-related costs. See here for the accompanying tables (excel).

Key facts:

• In England in 2008, 71 per cent of men and 56 per cent of women (aged 16 and over) reported drinking an alcoholic drink on at least one day in the week prior to interview. Eleven per cent of men and 6 per cent of women reported drinking on every day in the previous week.
• In England in 2008, 38 per cent of men drank over 4 units on at least one day in the week prior to interview and 29 per cent of women drank more than 3 units on at least one day in the week prior to interview. Twenty two per cent of men reported drinking over 8 units and 15 per cent of women reported drinking over 6 units on at least one day in the week prior to interview.
• The average weekly alcohol consumption in England in 2008, was 16.8 units for men and 8.6 units for women. There has been an increase from 54 per cent in 1997 to 75 per cent in 2009 in the proportion of people in Great Britain who had heard of daily drinking limits. Throughout the period, differences between men and women have been slight.
• In England in 2009, there were 150,445 prescription items for drugs for the treatment of alcohol dependency prescribed in primary care settings or NHS hospitals and dispensed in the community. This is an increase of 12 per cent since 2008 when there were 134,423 prescription items and 46 per cent since 2003 when there were 102,741 prescription items.
• In England in 2008, there were 6,769 deaths directly related to alcohol. An increase of 24 per cent from 2001. Of these alcohol related deaths, the majority (4,400) died from alcoholic liver disease.

See Alcohol Concern's press release and media coverage from the Guardian.