Drinking Around the World

(www.goldposters.com)

25% of deaths are alcohol-related according to a new study from a British medical journal called the Lancet.  Alcohol is now becoming as harmful to the globe as tobacco was ten years ago.  This increase in alcohol-related damage is not narrowed to one or two continents, but all of them.  Each country has risen between 5 and 40% and it does not seem to be declining any time soon.  The reason for this rapid increase has been studied for some time and researchers have come to the conclusion that it is due to more women drinking alcohol.  It has also been discovered that the wealthier a country is, the more alcohol its citizens consume.  Thus, more people drinking results in more alcohol-related accidents, strokes, cancer, and of course death.

So, how much does an average person in the world drink in the course of a year?  It has been estimated that a person drinks 1.6 gallons in a year.  If you concentrate this statistic on North America alone the amount increases to 2.5 gallons a year, which is 18 drinks a week.  This obviously does not apply to every person, but may concern many college students and binge drinkers.  They may not realize how many drinks they consume in a week, especially not in a year.  If I calculated the amount of alcohol I drank in a year it would be make me think twice about my consumption.

 It is clear that people around the world are drinking more and causing the rise of deaths due to alcohol, so what can be done to reduce this?  The study goes on to discuss possible ways and how countries are taking action.  In countries such as France and Italy, alcohol prices have risen and alcohol consumption has declined by 25% resulting in less deaths.  It is a difficult task to reduce deaths as a whole, but if more countries consider their options then maybe a decline is on the way.