There are 2.6m alcohol-related deaths a year globally, of which 2m are among men, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO). This meant that 4.7 per cent of all deaths were attributable to alcohol consumption, says the Global status report on alcohol and health and treatment of substance use disorders.
Deaths from psychoactive drug use totalled 0.6m annually, 0.4m of which were also among men. Around 400m people are living with alcohol and drug disorders globally, of which 209m are living with alcohol dependence.
The figures, which are from 2019, were scheduled to be published two years ago but were delayed as a result of COVID, says WHO. Although there had been some reduction in the alcohol-related death rate over the previous decade, the figures remained ‘unacceptably high’, with the highest numbers found in Europe and Africa. The European region’s alcohol-related death rate stood at 52.9 per 100,000 people, while Africa’s was 52.2 per 100,000.
Of the deaths attributable to alcohol in 2019, around 1.6m were from noncommunicable diseases – including 470,000 from cardiovascular disease and more than 400,000 from cancer.
‘There is a complex relationship between substance use, alcohol- and drug-related harms and socioeconomic status, and people with lower socioeconomic status are disproportionally affected by harms due to substance use,’ the document states. ‘The impact of alcohol, tobacco and psychoactive drug use on the health of the world’s population is unacceptably high by any metric, and for the working age population it exceeds the impact of any other risk factor.’
‘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,’ WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. ‘It places a heavy burden on families and communities, increasing exposure to accidents, injuries, and violence. 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.’
Report available here