A new report from the World Health Organisation highlights that 2.6 million deaths per year were attributable to alcohol consumption, accounting for 4.7 per cent of all deaths, and 0.6 million deaths to psychoactive drug use.
Notably, two million of alcohol and 0.4 million of drug-attributable deaths were among men.
WHO’s Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health and Treatment of Substance Use Disorders provides a comprehensive update based on 2019 data on the public health impact of alcohol and drug use and the situation with alcohol consumption and treatment of substance use disorders worldwide.
The report shows an estimated 400 million people live with alcohol and drug use disorders globally. Of this, 209 million people lived with alcohol dependence.
“Substance use severely harms individual health, increasing the risk of chronic diseases, mental health conditions, and tragically resulting in millions of preventable deaths every year. It places a heavy burden on families and communities, increasing exposure to accidents, injuries, and violence,” said Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
“To build a healthier, more equitable society, we must urgently commit to bold actions that reduce the negative health and social consequences of alcohol consumption and make treatment for substance use disorders accessible and affordable.”
The report highlights the urgent need to accelerate actions globally towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 3.5 by 2030 by reducing alcohol and drug consumption and improving access to quality treatment for substance use disorders.
The report highlights that despite some reduction in alcohol-related death rates since 2010, the overall number of deaths due to alcohol consumption remains unacceptably high and amounts to 2.6 million in 2019, with the highest numbers in the European Region and the African region.
The death rates due to alcohol consumption per litre of alcohol consumed are highest in low-income countries and lowest in high-income countries.
Of all deaths attributable to alcohol in 2019, an estimated 1.6 million deaths were from noncommunicable diseases, including 474,000 deaths from cardiovascular diseases and 401,000 from cancer.
Some 724,000 deaths were due to injuries, such as those from traffic crashes, self-harm, and interpersonal violence.
Another 284,000 deaths were linked to communicable diseases. For example, alcohol consumption has been shown to increase the risk of HIV transmission resulting from an increased risk of unprotected sex and increasing the risk of TB infection and mortality by suppressing a wide range of immune responses.
The highest proportion (13 per cent) of alcohol-attributable deaths in 2019 were among young people aged 20–39 years.
Total alcohol per capita consumption in the world population decreased slightly from 5.7 litres in 2010 to 5.5 litres in 2019. The highest levels of per capita consumption in 2019 were observed in the WHO European Region (9.2 litres) and the Region of Americas (7.5 litres).
The report showed that the level of alcohol consumption per capita among drinkers amounts on average to 27 grams of pure alcohol per day, roughly equivalent to two glasses of wine, two bottles of beer (33cl), or two servings of spirits (4cl).
This level and frequency of drinking is associated with increased risks of numerous health conditions and associated mortality and disability.
Globally, 23.5 per cent of all 15–19-year-olds were current drinkers. Rates of current drinking were highest among 15–19-year-olds in the European region (45.9 per cent) followed by the Americas (43.9 per cent).
The global health body, however, noted that effective treatment options for substance use disorders exist, but treatment coverage remains incredibly low.
