Alcohol
HSCIC data on alcohol are compiled from a variety of sources which give insight into the trends in alcohol use and misuse among school pupils (11 to 15 years) and adults (16+). The data also provide information on spending and affordability of alcohol, behaviour and attitudes towards the use of alcohol and drinking-related ill health and mortality. Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) also provide data on alcohol-related hospital admissions and procedures.
Key facts
Latest available alcohol figures show:
- In 2013, more than one in five adults in Great Britain said that they do not drink alcohol at all. Regionally, this was highest in London, where almost one in three adults were teetotal.
- Binge drinking was highest in the North East and Scotland, where it was undertaken by more than a third of drinkers.
- In 2014 fewer than four in ten pupils (aged 11 to 15 years) reported they had drunk alcohol at least once, the lowest level yet.
- There were more than 1 million alcohol-related hospital admissions in 2013-14. Men accounted for almost two in three of these admissions.
- Nearly half of all alcohol-related hospital admissions were due to cardiovascular disease and nearly a fifth were due to mental and behavioural disorders due to alcohol.
- In 2014, nearly 195,000 prescription items for the treatment of alcohol dependence were dispensed in the community. This is an 80 per cent increase on the number of items prescribed ten years earlier (108,100).
- The cost of drugs to treat alcohol dependence was £3.43 million in 2014, more than double the cost in 2004 (1.52 million).
- In 2013 there were almost 6,600 deaths related to alcohol and almost two thirds of these were for alcoholic liver disease. This is a ten per cent increase from the number of alcohol-related deaths in 2003 (6,000).