Alcohol statistics

Find out more about alcohol and its effect on life across the UK.

Last updated: February 2025

Alcohol impacts our health and wellbeing in many different ways, from causing headaches, sleepless nights, and feeling “off” the next day, to an increased risk of more serious long-term health conditions like increased blood pressure, cholesterol and even types of cancer

Alcohol is sometimes used by people to try manage symptoms of anxiety and depression, but alcohol is likely to make those symptoms worse in the long run (Mental Health Foundation, 2023)

Read our factsheet on alcohol and mental health

Alcohol is a causal factor in more than 200 medical conditions, including high blood pressure, liver scarring, and cancers (Rehm et al., 2010)

According to Cancer Research UK, drinking alcohol causes 7 different types of cancer

  • Breast cancer and bowel cancer, two of the most common types
  • Mouth cancer
  • Some types of throat cancer: oesophagus (food pipe), larynx (voice box) and pharynx (upper throat)
  • Liver cancer

Read our factsheet on alcohol and cancer

Alcohol is the biggest risk factor for death, ill-health, and disability among 15-49 year-olds in the UK, and the fifth biggest risk factor across all ages (Burton et al., 2016)

The Chief Medical Officers’ low-risk drinking guidelines recommend that adults do not drink more than 14 units a week, spread evenly over 3 or more days.

Read more about units and check your consumption with our unit calculator

Around 1 in 5 people in the UK report not drinking alcohol at all:

Units of pure alcohol consumed each week

  • In England in 2022, the mean number of units consumed by all adults aged over 16 years of age was 13.3 (NHS Digital, 2024)
  • In Scotland in 2022, the average number of units of alcohol consumed by all adults who drink was 12.6 units, ranging significantly by age from 15.5 units among those aged 16-24 years to 10.2 among those aged 75+ (Scottish Government, 2023)
  • In Wales in 2022/23, average annual alcohol consumption in units amongst those who drink was 508 units per year (Welsh Government, 2023). According to Alcohol Change UK calculations, this equates to 9.74 units per week

Across the four nations, a significant proportion of adults regularly drink over the Chief Medical Officers’ low-risk guidelines:

England: 24% (NHS Digital, 2024)

  • 32% of men and 15% of women

Northern Ireland: 16% (Northern Irish Government, 2024)

  • 25% of men and 9% of women

Scotland: 22% (Scottish Government, 2023)

  • 31% of men and 15% of women

Wales: 17% (Welsh Government, 2023)

  • 25% of men and 10% of women

“Children and their parents and carers are advised that an alcohol-free childhood is the healthiest and best option. However, if children drink alcohol, it should not be until at least the age of 15 years.” - Chief Medical Officer for England, 2009

Read our blog post on Alcohol and parenting: children and teenagers

According to NHS England (2024), in England in 2023:

  • 37% of pupils aged 11-16 said they had ever had an alcoholic drink
  • Prevalence increases with age, from 15% of 11 year olds to 62% of 15 year olds
  • 5% of all pupils said they usually drank alcohol at least once per week, similar to 6% in 2021
  • The proportion of those drinking alcohol at least once per week also increases with age, from 1% of 11 year olds to 11% of 15 year olds

According to the Department of Health (2023), in Northern Ireland in 2022:

  • 31% of pupils said they have ever had an alcoholic drink
  • Prevalence increases with age, from 11% of pupils aged 11-12 (in Year 8), to 64% of pupils in year 12 aged 15-16 (in Year 12)
  • Boys were more likely to report having taken a drink (33%) than girls (29%)
  • Around half (46%) of those young people that reported drinking alcohol indicated they had been drunk at least once
  • The proportion was similar for boys (45%) and girls (47%)

According to the Scottish Government (2023), in Scotland in 2021/22:

  • 33% of students aged 12-14 (in S2), and 59% of students aged 14-16 (in S4) have ever had an alcoholic drink
  • 2.3% of S2 students and 9.6% of S4 students drink alcohol about once a week
  • 10% of S2 students and 33% of S4 students drink alcohol at least once a month

According to the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study (2023), in Wales in 2021/22:

  • 14% of girls and 20% of boys aged 11 have ever drunk alcohol
  • 46% of girls and 42% of boys aged 13 have ever drunk alcohol
  • 76% of girls and 68% of boys aged 15 have ever drunk alcohol
  • 1% of girls and boys aged 11 have been drunk at least twice
  • 9% of girls and 6% of boys aged 13 have been drunk at least twice
  • 35% of girls and 26% of boys aged 15 have been drunk at least twice

According to NHS Digital (2024) in England in 2023:

  • Among men, the highest proportion of non-drinkers was in West Midlands (24%) and the lowest proportion was in East Midlands (11%) and East of England (11%)
  • Among women, the highest proportion of non-drinkers was in London (32%), and the lowest proportion was in the East of England (16%)
  • Men living in the North East were the most likely to drink more than 14 units of alcohol per week (39%), and those living in the East Midlands were the least likely to do so (25%)
  • Women living in the South West were the most likely to drink more than 14 units of alcohol per week (19%), and those living in the West Midlands were the least likely to do so (10%)

According to the Office for National Statistics (2018), in Great Britain in 2017:

  • The level of people who do not drink alcohol was lower amongst those who are White (15.8%) compared with all other ethnicity groups (50.6%)
  • England had the highest proportion of adults who said they drank alcohol in the previous week (57.8%), followed by Scotland (53.5%) and then Wales (50.0%)
  • Drinking in the past week was more common among those who reported being White (61.0%) relative to those who reported being any other ethnicity (30.5%)
  • Excessive drinking or “binge drinking” was more common in Scotland (37.3%), followed by Wales (30.4%) and then England (26.2%)
  • Of the English regions, among consumers of alcohol, binge drinking was more common in the North West (33%) and least common in the South East (18.6%)

In England in 2023, 19% of adults had not drunk alcohol in the last 12 months. This proportion has remained stable, between 17% and 20%, since 2011 (NHS Digital, 2024)

The COVID-19 pandemic polarised drinking patterns, with people previously consuming alcohol at lower levels further decreasing their drinking, and people previously consuming alcohol at higher levels further increasing their drinking (Public Health England, 2021)


 Read our research on drinking in the UK during lockdown and beyond

Since 2005, the overall amount of alcohol consumed in the UK, the proportion of people reporting drinking alcohol, and the amount of alcohol people report consuming have all fallen. This trend is especially pronounced among younger people (Office for National Statistics, 2018)

According to DHSC (2025), in England in 2023/24:

  • There were 280,747 admissions where the primary diagnosis was an alcohol-related condition (504 per 100,000 people)
  • There were 1,018,986 admissions where the primary or secondary diagnosis was an alcohol-related condition (1,824 per 100,000 people)
  • There has been an increase in alcohol-related hospital admissions from 2021/22:
  • There were 262,094 admissions where the primary diagnosis was an alcohol-related condition (475 per 100,000 people)
  • There were 942,260 admissions where the primary or secondary diagnosis was an alcohol-related condition (1,705 per 100,000 people)

In Northern Ireland, there are around 23,490 hospital admissions every year due to alcohol (University of Sheffield, 2023)

According to Public Health Scotland (2024):

  • In 2023/24 there were 32,301 alcohol-related hospital admissions (stays) (595.5 per 100,000 people)
  • This is an increase on the 31,218 admissions in 2022/23 (577.2 per 100,000 people)

According to Public Health Wales (2024):

  • In 2022/23, there were 12,628 alcohol-specific admissions involving 8,464 unique individuals (271 per 100,000 people)
  • The number of unique individuals admitted for alcohol-specific conditions has decreased by 18.6 per cent over the last 5 years
  • The number of unique individuals admitted for an alcohol-attributable condition in 2022/23 was 32,716, remaining stable from the previous year

In 2023, there were 10,473 deaths (15.9 per 100,000 people) from alcohol-specific causes registered in the UK, the highest number on record (Office for National Statistics, 2025)

The number recorded in 2023 was 4% higher than in 2022 (10,048 deaths; 16.6 per 100,000) and 38% higher than in 2019 (7,565 deaths; 11.8 per 100,000), the last pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic year (Office for National Statistics, 2025)

Consistent with previous years, the rate of alcohol-specific deaths for males in 2023 remained around double the rate for females, at 21.9 and 10.3 deaths per 100,000 people, respectively (Office for National Statistics, 2025)

There were 7,922 deaths due to alcoholic liver disease in the UK in 2023, making up 75.6% of all alcohol-specific deaths (Office for National Statistics, 2025)

By constituent country (Office for National Statistics, 2025):

  • England: 8,276 deaths, 15.0 per 100,000 people
  • Northern Ireland: 341 deaths, 18.5 per 100,000 people
  • Scotland: 1,277 deaths, 22.6 per 100,000 people
  • Wales: 562 deaths, 17.7 per 100,000 people

These statistics cover only alcohol-specific deaths, caused wholly by alcohol, such as alcohol poisoning and alcohol related liver disease. This does not cover alcohol-related deaths, such as cardiovascular diseases and cancers.

Data from England and Scotland shows that the true number of deaths which are wholly or partially attributable to alcohol is much higher.

According to OHID (2025), in England in 2023, there were:

  • 8,276 alcohol-specific deaths
  • 22,644 alcohol-related deaths
  • 30,920 deaths in total, almost 4 times higher than the alcohol-specific deaths reported

According to Public Health Scotland, in Scotland in 2020, there were:

  • 1,185 alcohol-specific deaths
  • 1,635 alcohol-related deaths
  • 2,820 deaths in total, just over double the alcohol-specific figures announced

Between 2012 and 2019, rates of alcohol-specific deaths in the UK had remained stable, with no statistically significant changes in the age-standardised rate (Office for National Statistics, 2024 )

Compared with the pre-coronavirus pandemic period, alcohol-specific death rates have risen in all four UK countries (Office for National Statistics, 2024)

People’s drinking patterns changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two separate modelling studies looked at these shifts in drinking during the pandemic and modelled the long-term health impacts of several different scenarios for how these changes might develop in the future. Both studies found that alcohol-specific deaths will increase dramatically, alongside other alcohol-related harm (Institute of Alcohol Studies and Health Lumen, 2022) (The University of Sheffield, 2022)

In 2023, 10,473 deaths from alcohol-specific causes were registered in the UK. This is the highest number on record. However, the rate of alcohol-specific deaths (15.9 per 100,000 people) decreased slightly compared with 2022, (16.6 deaths per 100,000 people)

ASDR 2001 23 V2

Alcohol can cause problems across the social scale. However, health harms are much more pronounced in areas of high deprivation, even though average consumption is usually lower in these areas. This is known as “the alcohol harm paradox”.

Consumption

According to NHS Digital (2024), in England in 2022:

  • 85% of people living in the least deprived areas drank alcohol
  • 69% of people living in the most deprived areas drank alcohol

According to the Northern Irish Government (2023), in Northern Ireland in 2022/23:

  • 82% of people living in the least deprived areas drank alcohol
  • 75% of people living in the most deprived areas drank alcohol

According to the Scottish Government (2023), in Scotland in 2022:

  • 88% of people living in the least deprived areas drank alcohol
  • 75% of people living in the most deprived areas drank alcohol

According to the Welsh Government (2020), in Wales in 2019-20:

  • 85% of people living in the least deprived areas drank alcohol
  • 71% of people living in the most deprived areas drank alcohol

Hospitalisations

  • In Northern Ireland in 2020/21-2022/23, people in the most deprived areas (1,026 admissions per 100,000 population) were more than three times more likely to be admitted to hospital for an alcohol-related cause than people in the least deprived areas (294 admissions per 100,000 population) (Department of Health, 2024)
  • In Scotland in 2023/24, people in the most deprived areas (942 patients per 100,000 population), as measured by SIMD, were six times more likely to be admitted to hospitals for conditions wholly attributable to alcohol than those in the least deprived areas (143 patients per 100,000 population) (Public Health Scotland, 2024)
  • In Wales in 2022/23, the proportion of all patients admitted for alcohol-specific conditions who lived in the 10 per cent of most deprived areas was 2.9 times higher than those from the least deprived areas (Public Health Wales, 2024)

Deaths

  • In England in 2023, people in the most deprived areas were more than 3 times more likely to die solely due to alcohol compared to people in the least deprived areas (Office for National Statistics, 2025)
  • Between 2019 and 2023, the percentage of alcohol-specific deaths in Northern Ireland's most deprived areas (37.6%) was almost four times that of the least deprived areas (9.8%) (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, 2023)
  • In Scotland in 2023, alcohol-specific death rates in the most deprived areas were 4.5 times more than those in the least deprived areas (National Records of Scotland, 2024)
  • In Wales in 2023, people in the most deprived areas were almost 3 times more likely to die solely due to alcohol compared to people in the least deprived areas (Office for National Statistics, 2025)

Read our research on Understanding the alcohol harm paradox

Read our factsheet on Alcohol and inequalities

According to the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities (2023), in 2022/23:

  • There were 86,257 people in contact with services for alcohol treatment only
  • 51,115 (59.3%) were male and 35,145 (40.7%) were female
  • There were an additional 25,332 people in contact with services for non-opiate and alcohol treatment
  • 25,332 (70.8%) were male and 10,441 (29.2%) were female

According to the Northern Ireland Department of Health (2019):

  • In 2019, of people in treatment, 2,560 (38.0%) people were in alcohol treatment and 1,982 (29.4%) people were in drug and alcohol treatment
  • From 2007 to 2019 there has been a fall in the proportion of people in treatment for alcohol only, compared with drugs only or drugs and alcohol
  • In 2007, 67% of those in treatment were for alcohol only, whereas in 2017 43% of those in treatment were for alcohol only

According to Public Health Scotland (2024), in 2023/24:

  • 8,682 people started specialist alcohol treatment
  • 63% were male and 37% were female
  • The median age of accessing treatment was 47 years old
  • The median age reported for first consuming alcohol was 16 years
  • The median age people deemed their alcohol use to be problematic was 30 years

According to Public Health Wales (2024), in 2022/23:

  • 7,532 (48.5%) of people assessed within substance misuse services were primary alcohol clients
  • 3,813 people (50.6%) were male and 3,719 (49.4%) were female
  • There were 4,768 people (63%) assessed for primary alcohol use not previously recorded as having an assessment with a substance misuse service in Wales

According to the Department for Transport (2021), estimates of casualties in collisions involving at least one driver or rider over the drink-drive limit in Great Britain for 2021 show that:

  • Between 240 and 280 people were killed in drink-drive collisions, with a central estimate of 260 fatalities
  • The estimate of fatalities for 2021 is the highest since 2009 and represents a statistically significant increase from 2020
  • The central estimate of the number of killed or seriously injured drink-drive casualties in 2021 is 1,880, an increase of 23% on 2020
  • An estimated 6,740 people were killed or injured in drink-drive collisions, an increase of 4% from 2020

According to the Department for Infrastructure (2024), in Northern Ireland in 2022:

  • There were 48 drink-driving collisions
  • 5 people were killed
  • 76 people were seriously injured

Between 2018 and 2022:

  • There were 296 people killed or seriously injured (KSI) in collisions where “Impairment by alcohol – driver/rider” was the primary cause
  • Males were responsible for 80% of KSI collisions where “Impaired by alcohol – driver / rider” was the primary cause
  • Drivers aged 17 to 49 were responsible for over four-fifths (82%) of drink driving KSI collisions

Read our factsheet on Alcohol and transport

Drinking alcohol does not inevitably lead to violent behaviour, and most episodes of drunkenness pass without any violence. However, by lowering inhibitions and impairing judgement, alcohol can increase both aggression and the willingness to take risks.

In England and Wales:

According to the Northern Ireland Assembly (2020):

  • Since the start of the data series in 2012/13, around one in five crimes recorded by the police have been flagged with an alcohol motivation
  • There were a total of 20,500 alcohol-related crimes in 2018/19

The types of crime motivated by alcohol in 2018/19 were:

  • 36% violence with injury
  • 34% violence without injury
  • 13% criminal damage
  • 9% other
  • 8% theft

In Scotland:

  • Where the victims were able to say something about the offender of violent crime in 2021/22, almost two-fifths (37%) believed them to be under the influence of alcohol. This figure is lower than the estimate in 2008/09 (63%) but unchanged from 2019/20 (Scottish Government, 2023)
  • 40% of prisoners report being drunk at the time of their offence (Scottish Prison Service, 2019)

Read our factsheet on Alcohol, crime, and disorder

Looking for more information?

Find out more about the impact of alcohol on your health by reading our factsheets on everything from alcohol and mental health to parenting.