Alcohol played a part in 2.6 million deaths in 2019, WHO says

Alcohol consumption played a role in 2.6 million deaths worldwide in 2019, according to a report from the World Health Organization.

The report analyzed alcohol and psychoactive drug usage in 2019 across 145 countries. While rates of alcohol-related deaths had decreased since 2010, the overall number is still “unacceptably high,” WHO officials said in the report released in June. Deaths linked to alcohol consumption made up about 4.7 percent of all deaths worldwide.

Young people ages 20 to 39 and individuals in Europe and Africa made up the largest proportion of alcohol-attributable deaths, and more men than women – 2 million vs. 0.6 million – died because of alcohol, according to the report.

Globally, nearly a quarter of all 15- to 19-year-olds drank alcohol, the WHO report said. Rates of drinking were highest in the European and African regions, the WHO said, and 38 percent of drinkers reported heavy episodic drinking on one or more occasions in the preceding month.

According to the report, 400 million people globally have alcohol use disorders, and of these, 209 million had alcohol dependence. But the authors wrote that high-quality, ethical treatment for substance use disorders is lacking. Most of the countries assessed did not have a specific budget line or data on governmental expenditures for treatment. And almost half of the countries analyzed did not offer support groups for substance use disorders.

“Stigma, discrimination and misconceptions about the efficacy of treatment contribute to these critical gaps in treatment provision, as well as the continued low prioritization of substance use disorders by health and development agencies,” the authors write.