Over 3 million people died from alcohol in 2012.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: A new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that drinking habits in India have increased over the last few years, in tune with an overall increase in alcohol consumption worldwide.
According to the WHO, 32% of men and just under 11% of women in India, over the age of 15, imbibe. For the total population, about 28.7% of Indians consume liquor. About 7% of the alcohol consumed is in the form of beer, less than 1% is wine, and a whopping 93% is in the form of spirits.
According to the WHO, alcohol consumption in India and China have both gone up because citizens are getting wealthier. Because income is higher, more money gets spent on alcohol, driving up consumption.
“On average every person in the world aged 15 years or older drinks 6.2 liters of pure alcohol per year,†says the report, entitled “Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health 2014.†“But as less than half the population (38.3%) actually drinks alcohol, this means that those who do drink consume on average 17 liters of pure alcohol annually.â€
To put that in perspective, Belarus – which ranked #1 in terms of alcohol consumption between 2008 and 2010, logged 17.5 liters per capita. Number two was the Republic of Moldova, with 16.8 liters. The rest of the top 10 is made up of Lithuania (15.4 liters), Russian Federation (15.1 liters), Romania (14.4 liters), Ukraine (13.9 liters), Andorra (13.8 liters), Hungary (13.3 liters), the Czech Republic and Slovakia (13.0 liters), and Portugal (12.9 liters).
The vast majority of the world’s most alcoholic countries are in Eastern Europe. Some of the lowest-ranked countries in terms of alcohol consumption are in North Africa and the Middle East – Muslim-dominated nations, which makes sense. These countries typically consume about 2.5 liters per capita or less. The US registered just over nine liters per capita. Australia and Canada ranked high among developed nations, with 1.2 liters and 10.2 liters, respectively.
Around the world, about 7.6% of male deaths can be attributed to alcohol-related causes each year, while about 4% of women annually die from complications that stem from alcohol consumption. About 16% of the world’s population engages in periodic, “binge†drinking, in which they imbibe very large amounts of alcohol, but relatively infrequently.
Worldwide, there were about 3.3 million deaths from alcohol in 2012, according to the WHO, which averages out to about one death every 10 seconds.