European Alcoho... / Resources / Country Profiles / Italy
Italy
Alcoholic beverages play an important part in the Italian national economy, as well as in daily life. Wine is considered an important ingredient of the daily diet.
Despite still being the world's largest producer of wine in 1995, the production of wine has been on the decrease in Italy at least from the late 1970s. Also, the number of places selling alcoholic beverages on the premises continues to decrease in Italy.
In 1973, the total alcohol consumption reached a figure of 13.9 litres per capita. Since then, the total alcohol consumption has declined, and in 2000 the Italian per capita alcohol consumption was 7.5 litres. This means that in two and a half decades the total alcohol consumption had decreased by almost 50 per cent. [1]
According to the WHO GENACIS study (2001-2002 regional survey conducted in Florence and Tuscany; sample size 2630; age group 20-64 years), the rate of last year's abstainers was 15.9% (total), which broke down to 9.1% for males and 22.7% for females. [2]
The same GENACIS survey found the rate of heavy and hazardous drinking (among drinkers) to be 12.8% for males and 11.5% for females. The definition used for "heavy and hazardous drinking" was average consumption of 40 g or more of pure alcohol a day for males and 20 g or more of pure alcohol a day for females. [3]
In a nationally representative sample of subjects aged 18-64 years, the annual frequency of adult binge drinking in the past year was 24.7 among males and 14.0 among females. Binge drinking was defined as consuming at least a bottle of wine, 25 centilitres of spirits or four cans of beer. [4]
Youth drinking: According to the 1999 ESPAD survey (sample size n=4106), the rate of alcohol consumers was 17% (total). Alcohol consumer was defined as lifetime use of 40 times or more. [5]
Data from that survey (age group 15-16 years old) show that the rate of youth binge drinking was 9% for females. Data for boys was unavailable at time of publishing. Binge drinking was defined as consuming five or more drinks in a row during the last 30 days. [6]
The same study also found that 17.8% of all students recently drove a car or other vehicle after drinking alcohol and 7.9% drove after binge drinking. [7]
It is estimated that 30-50% of deaths due to road traffic accidents are attributable to alcohol. [8]
The SDR per 100,000 people for chronic liver disease and cirrhosis was 14.35 in 1999 and 13.89 in 2000. [9]
In 1996, about 42,000 deaths were attributed to alcohol consumption, mostly from hemorrhagic stroke, liver cirrhosis, cancer and injuries. Light intake (25 g/day or less) caused about 30% of deaths attributable to any consumption in women. In men, about one half of the deaths were attributable to the highest category of intake (100g/day or more), while a lower proportion of deaths was attributed to light intake (just below 7%). [10]
Alcohol Policy
Italy lacks a comprehensive alcohol control approach and system. No comprehensive alcohol policy has been pursued on a national level over the past decades. The planning of settings to promote general health were only beginning to be considered in the 1990s. Despite this, alcohol consumption has continued to decrease.
Since the 1980s, many alcohol education progams have been put into effect in high schools, funded jointly by the public health agencies and the public school system. As per the lack of official alcohol policy, these were planned locally with no national or regional coordination. These programs were quite successful in generating materials and awareness so that, now, nearly every school has one teacher who is in charge of planning and carrying out information projects on health, sometimes including alcohol. [11]
Alcohol Advertising
Before 1991, alcohol advertising was not regulated at all. This was mainly due to the minor importance that the alcohol issue had as a social problem. There has been, however, a voluntary self-regulation code among alcohol producers and manufacturers, media agencies, and television networks since 1964. In 1996, the alcohol industry also subcribed to a self-regulation code. The norms for advertising of alcoholic beverages try to prevent advertising from deceiving the consumer.
The 2001 Alcohol Act prohibits alcohol advertisements addressed to young people and establishes that a self-regulation code has to be provided together by broadcasting companies, advertisement agencies and producers. Advertisements for alcholic beverages are forbidden if they are broadcasted during young programming or within the 15 minutes before or after the programs, they link alcohol consumption to therapeutic properties or they show minors drinking alcohol. [12]
[1], [11] & [12] Allamani, Allaman, Cipriani, Francesco, Voller, Fabio, Rossi, Daniel, Anav, Simona, Karlsson, Thomas and Österberg, Esa. "Chapter 11: Italy." Alcohol Policies in EU Member States and Norway. May 2003. P. 258-284.
[2] & [3] Preliminary results from the Gender, Alcohol and Culture: An International Stud(GENACIS Project). International Reseasrch Group on Gender and Alcohol (for more information please see http://www.med.und.nodak.edu/depts/irrga/GENACISProject.html).
[4] Health, food and alcohol and safety. Special Eurobarometer 186/Wave 59.0. European Opinion Research Group, 2003.
[5] & [6] Hibell B et al. The 1999 ESPAD Report. The European School Survey on Alcohol and Other Drugs: Alcohol and Other Drug Use Among Students in 30 European Countries. Stockholm, Council of Europe, 2000.
[7] DiGrande L et al. Alcohol use and correlates of binge drinking among university students on the island of Sardinia, Italy. Substance Use and Misuse, 2000, 35 (10): 1471-1483.
[8] Taggi F, Giustini M, Macchia T. Alcol e sicurezza stradale. In: I dati socio-sanitari della sicurezza stradale. Progetto DATIS. 2002 (http://www.iss.it/sitp/sicum).
[9] European health for all database. World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe (http://hfadb.who.dk/hfa)
[10] Corrao G et. al. Alcohol-attributable and alcohol-preventable mortality in Italy: a balance in 1983 and 1996. European Journal of Public Health, 2002, 12(3): 214-223.
