Germany - alcohol consumption among young continues to increase
By Walter Farke DHS (Germany)
The Federal Centre for Health Education has published the results of a representative survey on alcohol consumption among young people aged from 12 to 19. These results, released during a nationwide campaign against alcohol and addiction, show increases in alcohol consumption for this age group between 2005 and 2007.
Males aged 16 to 17 years old consumed 150 grams of pure alcohol in average weekly in 2007, the equivalent to two glasses of alcohol every day. This represents an increase of 127 grams from 2004 and 108 grams from 2005. Alcohol consumption among young women aged 16 to 17 years also increased, from 42 grams pure alcohol weekly in 2005 to 53 grams in 2007. The survey also showed that binge drinking (5+ drinks in a single occasion) becomes more widespread among young people, especially between 16 and 17 year old young people. In 2007 every second (51%) young person of the age group 16 until 17 years practised binge drinking at least one day a month. In 2005 a binge drinking rate of 40% was measured among this age group. The rise of this type of drinking pattern is attributed to the increase of the consumption of beer, beer-mix beverages and spirits. The consumption of alcopops, however, has decreased since the implementation of targeted tax on this product.
The total report is available in German at: http://www.bzga.de/pdf.php?id=64967b04ac33def94dad871cd7e63d8c