New ESPAD study

The European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) is a collaborative effort of independent research teams in about forty European countries and the largest cross-national research project on adolescent substance use in the world.

Countries that participated in ESPAD 2007 were: Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

Extract summary report: Alcohol: Some Key findings

Most adolescents have drunk at least once: In all ESPAD countries at least two thirds of the students have drunk alcohol at least once during their lifetime, with an ESPAD average close to 90% in the 2007 survey. The corresponding average figures for the past 12 months and the past 30 days are 82 and 61% respectively. These figures were relatively unchanged from 1995 to 2007 for lifetime and past 12 months prevalences, while past 30 days figures increased until 2003 before they dropped a little in 2007, especially among boys. Between the last two surveys there was also a clear decrease in the average proportion of students that had been drinking beer and/or wine during the past 30 days.

Prevalence and frequency of drinking in past 12 months and past 30 days: The figures for lifetime, past 12 months and past 30 days prevalences are about the same for boys and girls. However, when it comes to higher frequencies in the respective time frame (40, 20 and 10 times) the proportions are usually higher among boys. These high frequencies are mainly reported by students in Austria and Germany while the Nordic countries Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden belong to those with only very few students who drink this often.

Quantity of Alcohol Consumed: The total amount of alcohol consumed during the last drinking day is usually low in countries where the students drink often, for example in Greece, and the other way around for countries with low consumption frequencies. Countries with such a pattern include the Nordic countries Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. However, there are exceptions to this pattern and they include Denmark (limited comparability) and Austria in which the students report high frequencies as well as large quantities consumed. In the countries with the largest average quantities, Denmark (limited comparability) and the Isle of Man, the quantities for an average student is about 3–4 times higher than in the countries with the lowest average consumption (Armenia and Cyprus).

Gender differences and beverage choice: In nearly all countries boys drink larger quantities than girls. The most pronounced contrast to this is Iceland, where girls report larger quantities than boys. In a large majority of the countries, beer is the dominant beverage among boys while spirits is the most important beverage among girls in a little more than half of the countries. All in all, beer is the dominant beverage, accounting for some 40% of the amount consumed (in 100% alcohol) on the last drinking day, and followed by 30% for spirits and 13% for wine. Beer is even more dominant among boys, accounting for about half their total consumption on the last drinking day. Girls have a more evenly distributed pattern, with spirits as the most important type, constituting about one third of the total consumption.