Average alcohol consumption in OECD countries changed little since 2010, but harmful patterns of alcohol consumption remain highly prevalent in the OECD population. In addition to a high level of binge drinking, OECD analyses show that more than 60% of teenagers aged 15 years drink alcohol and one in five has experienced drunkenness at least twice in their lives. In addition, analyses of six OECD countries suggest that between a third and a half of all alcohol is consumed by people who drink heavily.
Harmful alcohol consumption
Alcohol consumption is a major risk factor that can lead to chronic conditions such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, and even lower levels of consumption increase the long-term risk. Alcohol intake also contributes to more car crashes, injuries, and mental health disorders than any other psychoactive substance, particularly among young people, and has a high financial cost to society.
Key messages
Alcohol consumption has a high burden of diseases and injuries, which translates into significant healthcare costs and labour productivity losses. The OECD estimates that diseases and injuries caused by drinking above 1 drink a day for women and 1.5 drink a day for men incur medical costs equal to about 2.4% of total health expenditure each year. Combined with the impact on labour force productivity, it is estimated that GDP will be 1.6% lower on average in OECD countries annually over the next 30 years due to harmful alcohol consumption.
A comprehensive approach would have the biggest impact on reducing alcohol-related harms. This would include counselling for patients with harmful alcohol consumption, police enforcement to prevent alcohol-related traffic injuries, limiting the marketing of alcohol to children, and fiscal measures to limit the affordability of alcohol, particularly for cheap alcohol. The OECD estimates that for each dollar invested in such a comprehensive policy package, up to USD 16 are returned in economic benefit, excluding the impact on alcohol-related businesses.
Context
Trends in alcohol consumption
Overall alcohol consumption averaged 8.6 litres per person across OECD countries in 2021, down from 8.9 litres in 2011. Overall alcohol consumption is usually measured through sales data, divided by the population aged 15 and over. Latvia, Lithuania, Czechia, Estonia and Austria reported the highest consumption in 2021– with over 11 litres per person. Average consumption fell in 23 OECD countries between 2011 and 2021, with the largest reductions in Lithuania and Ireland (by more than two litres). However, alcohol consumption increased by more than two litres per person in Latvia, and by about one litre per person in Mexico and Norway.
The impact of alcohol consumption on life expectancy
Alcohol consumption is a factor that affects health and therefore life expectancy. For example, drinking more than 1 drink per day for women and 1.5 drinks per day for men is predicted to make life expectancy 0.9 years lower over the next 30 years, on average across countries. The largest reductions are predicted in Central and Eastern European countries, with more than 1.5 years of life expectancy lost in Lithuania, Poland, Estonia and Latvia. The effect on healthy life expectancy is even greater. Largest reductions are predicted in Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, with 2 or more years of healthy life expectancy lost.
Healthcare spending associated with alcohol consumption
Diseases and injuries caused by alcohol include liver cirrhosis, cancers, cardiovascular diseases, mental disorders, and injuries from car crashes and violence, among others. The annual cost of treating diseases and injuries caused by drinking above 1 drink a day for women and 1.5 drinks a day for men is about 2.4% of total health spending across OECD countries.
Alcohol-related diseases and injuries are also associated with reduced employment and productivity. According to OECD estimates, diseases and injuries caused by drinking more than 1-1.5 drinks per day reduce the workforce by an equivalent of 33 million full-time workers per year across the 52 countries studied, or 0.62% of the total workforce.
How to tackle harmful alcohol consumption?
A reinforced policy package to tackle harmful alcohol consumption should include various policy areas. For example, increasing counselling as part of primary care would diagnose harmful patterns of drinking early, police enforcement through sobriety checkpoints could counter drink-driving, and tighter regulation on alcohol advertising would help reduce harmful drinking. Marketing bans to protect children and fiscal measures, such as raised taxes and setting a floor price below which alcohol cannot be sold legally (minimum unit pricing) would also help.
According to OECD simulations, if governments scaled up such a reinforced policy strategy, several thousand cases of diseases and injuries would be avoided, and people would live longer without disease. Annual gains in healthy life years vary from 68 to 311 per 100,000 population across countries. It would also result in economic benefits: USD 28 billion saved on healthcare spending, and higher employment and work productivity. with 3.9 million additional workers in the labour force in the studied countries, annually over the next 30 years.
