Did you know...?

Alcohol lowers sperm count in men and fertility in women.

The 'sickies' people take because of hangovers total around 640,000 lost working days every year.

A donut and a large glass of wine have around the same number of calories (200).

It takes your liver 1 hour to process 1 unit of alcohol - bear this in mind if you're driving the next day.

Marriages where there are alcohol problems are twice as likely to end in divorce.

 

Sobering statistics...

Consumption

  • Scotland is 8th in the world for alcohol consumption per head of population.
  • People in Scotland drank 25% more alcohol per head of population than individuals in England and Wales.
  • 1 in 3 men and 1 in 4 women in Scotland exceed recommended daily limits.
  • Men's average weekly consumption is more than double that of women.
  • 1,277,000 people in Scotland are drinking hazardously/harmfully.


Cost

  • Alcohol misuse costs Scotland around £3.56 billion per year - £900 for every taxpayer.


Young People

  • Less than half of 15 year olds and a third of 13 year olds report drinking alcohol in the past week.
  • The number of 13 year olds drinking in the past week has doubled since 1990.


Alcohol-Related Deaths

  • There were 2372 alcohol-related deaths in Scotland in 2005 - the equivalent of 33 full double decker buses.
  • Alcohol-related deaths among women have doubled in the last decade.
  • One in every 20 deaths is attributed to alcohol
  • People living in the most deprived areas are 5 times more likely to die an alcohol-related death than those in least deprived areas.


Accidents

  • In 2006 there were approximately 720 drink-drive accidents, with 980 casualties.
  • 1 in 3 adult pedestrians killed on the roads had been drinking.
  • Alcohol is a factor in over half of deaths caused by fire in Scotland.


Health Service

  • 1 in 10 Accident & Emergency admissions in Scotland can be attributed to alcohol.
  • There were 42,430 alcohol-related hospital discharges in 2007/08.
  • An estimated 111,200 consultations with GPs and practice nurses for alcohol misuse took place in 2006/07.
  • 1 in 5 patients discharged from psychiatric units have an alcohol-related diagnosis.
  • Alcohol-related hospital discharges are most common in the 45-54 age group.


Licences

  • There are over 17,000 liquor licences currently in force in Scotland.
  • Off-sales account for 37% of all licences, and pubs hold 30% of all licences.

 

Source: ISD, NHS Scotland

For further statistics on alcohol in Scotland visit Alcohol Information Scotland