Facts About Drinking
In many parts of the world, drinking alcoholic beverages is a common feature of social gatherings. Nevertheless, the irresponsible consumption of alcohol carries a risk of adverse health and social consequences.A wide range of effective global, regional and national policies are in place to reduce the harmful use of alcohol.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), on average every person in the world aged 15 years or older drinks 6.2 litres of pure alcohol per year. But as less than half the population (38.3%) actually drinks alcohol, this means that those who do drink consume on average 17 litres of pure alcohol annually.
By comparison, in 2010, Hong Kong citizens drank a total of 16.18 million litres of pure alcohol, resulting in a per capita alcohol consumption of 2.62 litres by legal drinkers who are aged 15 or above.
In Hong Kong, 1.9% of the population drink regularly (defined as having at least one alcoholic drink everyday), and 70% of the population are not regular drinkers.i
In 2010 on average, each Hong Kong person consumed 1.18 litres of beer, 0.60 litres of wine and 0.83 litres of spirits.ii
Globally, Europe is the region with the highest consumption of alcohol per capita, with some of its countries having particularly high consumption rates. Trend analysis shows that the consumption level is stable over the last 5 years in the region, as well as in Africa and the Americas, though increases have been reported in the South-East Asia and the Western Pacific regions.iii。
More information on:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs349/en/
http://www.change4health.gov.hk/filemanager/common/image/strategic_framework/alcohol_action_plan/action_plan_e.pdf