Small drop in alcohol deaths in England

But deaths caused by alcohol are still much higher than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. The rate of alcohol-specific deaths in 2024 was 28% higher than in 2019.

When it comes to what’s behind this drop, Professor of Alcohol Policy in the Sheffield Addictions Research Group, Colin Angus had this to say when speaking to David Hillier for the ‘What Are You On’ blog:

“Overall we’re drinking less, which is good and why deaths have started to come down a little bit. But there’s still a hardcore group drinking more. This is likely why we’re seeing less of a reduction in deaths.”

Read about what ‘alcohol-related’ and ‘alcohol-specific’ mortality mean.

In 2024, 21,971 people died for reasons related to alcohol, such as heart disease and cancer, with 7,763 of these deaths caused exclusively by alcohol, for example alcohol-related liver disease. Numbers this big can be hard to absorb in human terms. Despite the slight reduction compared to 2023, this is still a huge number of lives cut short in just one year, leaving behind family and friends coping with loss.

While deaths have fallen, the number of alcohol-related hospital admissions in England surpassed 1 million for the first time.

The harm caused by alcohol is wider than deaths and hospitalisations, with many of us feeling the impact on our own health, and in our families, local areas, and workplaces. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

With bold action from Government, we can improve the world around us to make it easier for us to cut back or stop drinking alcohol if we want to, by tackling cheap, strong alcohol and out of control marketing. With properly funded support embedded in our communities we can make it easier for people to get help if they’re worried about their own or someone else’s drinking.

The Government has made some steps in the right direction, by committing to introducing compulsory health information on alcohol labels and keeping alcohol duty in line with inflation. But we know that people want stronger action than this. By taking meaningful, cross-government action now, alcohol harm could fall significantly, the impact of which we would all feel in our homes, workplaces, NHS and neighbourhoods.

Dr Richard Piper, CEO of Alcohol Change UK said:

“Millions of us see and feel the negative impact of alcohol on our daily lives, from feeling down, spending more money than we intended, putting on weight when we don’t want to, fractious relationships, and either us or our loved ones not being fully present. Alcohol is also a huge driver of crime, especially violence against women and girls, and child neglect.

“While this small drop in deaths is of course positive news, it’s no cause for complacency. Every death is a tragedy – an empty seat at the table at family gatherings. These unnecessary lives lost, often at a young age, are preventable.

“Alcohol Change UK will not rest until all forms of alcohol harm are eliminated, fighting for families, communities and society to be free from alcohol harm.”