Alcohol Kills 2.6 Million People Annually — WHO
The WHO reports 2.6 million alcohol-related fatalities each year.
Alcohol consumption kills 2.6 million people annually, says WHO. Despite a slight decline, the death toll remains high, with men making up 75% of fatalities. Excessive drinking leads to chronic diseases, mental health issues, and millions of preventable deaths each year.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that alcohol consumption is responsible for approximately 2.6 million deaths worldwide each year. Despite a slight decline in recent years, the death toll remains alarmingly high. According to the WHO's latest study on alcohol and health, alcohol use accounts for nearly one in twenty deaths globally each year, with men making up over three-quarters of these fatalities.
Alcohol-related deaths are caused by various illnesses and disorders, including liver cirrhosis and certain cancers, as well as alcohol-related violence and abuse, and drunk driving. In 2019, alcohol consumption was linked to 2.6 million deaths, representing 4.7% of all deaths globally that year. The age group of 20 to 39 accounted for the largest percentage of alcohol-related deaths, at 13%.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasized that substance use severely harms individual health, increasing the risk of chronic diseases, mental health conditions, and resulting in millions of preventable deaths every year. While there has been some reduction in alcohol consumption and related harm worldwide since 2010, the death rate remains unacceptably high.
The study found that excessive alcohol consumption makes people more vulnerable to infectious diseases like pneumonia, HIV, and tuberculosis. An estimated 209 million people, or 3.7% of the global population, struggled with alcoholism in 2019. The global average per capita alcohol consumption fell slightly from 5.7 liters to 5.5 liters in 2019, but the world's population does not drink alcohol in the same proportions.
Drinking per capita was highest in Europe (9.2 liters) and lowest in the Americas (7.5 liters), with the Middle East, Asia, and Northern Africa countries with a large Muslim population having the lowest rates of alcohol consumption. The average daily intake of alcohol among individuals who drank was found to be 27 grams of pure alcohol in 2019, equivalent to two shots of liquor, two small bottles of beer, or two glasses of wine.
Globally, 23.5% of those between the ages of 15 and 19 reported drinking at the moment, with the percentage increasing to over 45% and almost 44% respectively for those in this age bracket living in Europe and the Americas. The WHO stressed the critical need to increase access to high-quality treatment for drug use disorders, with the percentage of individuals using these treatment services in 2019 ranging from less than 1% to 35% in the countries that provided data.
According to Vladimir Poznyak, head of WHO's unit for alcohol, drugs, and addictive behaviors, stigma, discrimination, and misconceptions about the efficacy of treatment contribute to these critical gaps in treatment provision. The WHO emphasized the importance of addressing these gaps to reduce the devastating impact of alcohol consumption on individuals and communities worldwide.
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