Contrary to what many people believe, you don’t have to find yourself in a situation where you’re looking for local residential rehab centres for alcoholics, in order to have a real issue with alcohol. Additionally, even if you aren’t drinking to such an extent that it would be considered dangerous, it’s quite likely you would still benefit from cutting down.
One of the biggest issues with alcohol these days is that it’s both really affordable and available to such an extent that it’s largely acknowledged as entirely normal and harmless. Indeed, responsible and careful drinking does not have to be necessarily dangerous – the problem being that a lot of people fail to consume alcohol with any real responsibility and care at all.
Which is why it could be helpful every now and then to take a quick look at a few important statistics on alcohol consumption, in order to build a more accurate picture of what might be really going on. The figures and statistics out there are not published just to scare people, but rather to help generate awareness and also promote more responsible and safe use of alcohol.
Here is a short overview of a few examples that will illustrate the point:
1 – While the large majority of people naturally assume their drinking habits aren’t in any way harmful, research suggests otherwise. In reality, evidence has shown that some 11 million individuals in the UK are presently drinking at a level that is posing a direct and real threat to their overall health. The issue being that a lot of the damage caused is often cumulative, which means it’s difficult to diagnose and treat until it gets much more severe.
2 – The number of individuals in the UK losing their lives due to alcohol consumption is increasing at a scary pace. Official figures show that there were under 6,500 deaths in 2012 directly associated with alcohol consumption in one way or another. Back in 2001, the statistics showed a figure 20% lower than this. That is exactly why health groups are campaigning for much stricter rules on the purchase and sale of alcohol, in order to help curb what is clearly a growing problem.
3 – Alcohol consumption is said to be responsible for around 10% of all death and disease faced by the people in the UK. Outside smoking and obesity, alcohol is one of the biggest factors that contribute to a large variety of premature deaths and diseases in the country. Nevertheless, millions of people who might be directly at risk due to their habits could have no idea this is indeed the case.
4 – On the same note, studies have shown that around the region of 8 million people who consume alcohol at a level that poses a threat to their health actually have no idea of the significant damage they’re causing. This figure suggests that along with the people who drink to excess and genuinely don’t care about the damage to their bodies, there are millions of individuals who are not aware of the danger they are in.
5 – On the financial side of things, overuse and misuse of alcohol is costing the UK economy around £21 billion every year. This is spread between the crime, loss of productivity and healthcare costs, which like the number of alcohol-related diseases and deaths is growing each year at a worrying pace.
6 – The UK government with the assistance of a number of health authorities and bodies is presently implementing a variety of strategies, attempting to bring alcohol overuse under control. To this date, studies have shown that the most effective method is to increase the prices of alcohol, followed by making alcohol drinks less available and reducing drink-driving with more severe deterrents and penalties. 7 – While the described efforts continue, the average alcohol price in the UK is still 60% lower than it was in 1980. Alcohol taxation might increase in the future, but it’s unlikely that alcohol will ever cost as much as it used to.