WHO Says Europe Must Do More to Reduce Alcohol Use
Europeans drink more alcohol than anyone else, according to the latest data from the World Health Organization (WHO).
And the WHO says that most governments aren't doing enough to encourage people to drink less.
This summer, the organization released a report on alcohol and health around the world.
The latest available data on alcohol use in all countries is from 2019. Data has been collected since then but not for every country, so the report looked at data from five years ago so that all countries could be compared.
There are 53 countries that the WHO considers to be in the European area. They include Russia and Turkey.
While alcohol use is higher in these countries than other parts of the world, the report found that among people in Europe aged 15 and over it has actually been decreasing since 1980.
In 2020, on average Europeans drank 9.8 liters of pure alcohol per person per year. That's down from 12.7 liters in 1980.
Still, the WHO said that 11% of people in Europe have a problem with alcohol and around one in 20 live with alcohol dependence.
It added that only 12 out of 53 countries in the area have made "significant progress" toward reducing alcohol consumption.
It said that some countries outside of the European Union — including Russia, Turkey and Ukraine — have made good progress, increasing taxes on alcohol and limiting its availability.
But, as well as making these changes, the WHO wants to see less alcohol advertising in European countries.
It said in Europe, alcohol causes almost 800,000 deaths every year, and its use affects many more people, including those living with a person who has an alcohol problem.
The countries in Europe where people drank the most in 2019 were Latvia, the Czech Republic and Lithuania.
