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Latvia
According to estimates by specialists from the Narcology Centre, real per capita consumption in 1998 was about 14 litres of pure alcohol, in 1997 12.1 litres. Unregistered alcohol is often of a low quality, toxic and sold at low prices. [1]
In a 1999 national survey of 3500 households (with respondents 18 years and above), the rate of last year abstainers was found to be 25% (total), 15% for males and 32% for females. The survey also found that the average number of alcohol units consumed on the last drinking occasion was 3.9 among those having had at least one drink during the last month and 1.9 for the total population. [2]
Estimates from key alcohol experts show that the proportion of adult males and females who had been abstaining (last year before the survey) was 15% for males and 46% for females. Data is for after the year 1995. [3]
A 1997 national survey of adults aged 19 to 64 years found that among drinkers (693 men and 426 women), 4% of males and 5.6% of females were heavy drinkers. Heavy drinking was defined as consuming more than 80g of pure alcohol a day. [4]
In a 1999 national survey of 3500 households (with respondent 18 years and above), the rate of binge drinking was 26% among drinkers and 13% among the total population. Binge drinking was defined as having had five or more alcohol units on the last drinking occasion. [5]
Youth drinking: Data from the 1999 ESPAD survey (total sample size 2284, age group 15 to 16 years) found that the rate of alcohol consumers was 20% (total), 24% for males and 17% for females. Alcohol consumer was defined as lifetime use of 40 times or more. [6]
According to that same survey, the rate of youth binge drinking was 14% total, 19% for males and 5% for females. Binge drinking was defined as consuming five or more drinks in a row three times or more in the last 30 days. [7]
As a result of the large proportion of unrecorded alcohol consumption, calculations of alcohol-related morbidity and mortality indicate that the real consumption level could be three to five times higher than the recorded level, reaching 16-20 litres of pure alcohol per capita.[8]
In 2003, 110 people lost their lives in road accidents in which at least one of the drivers had been under the influence of alchol (the figure in 2002 was 148). The number of severe accidents caused by drives under the influence of alcohol has decreased from 775 in 2002 (and 963 in 1998) to 691 in 2002. [9]
The SDR per 100,000 people for chronic liver disease and cirrhosis was 15.02 in 2001 and 14.43 in 2002. [10]
[1] & [8] Trapenciere I. Statistics on alcohol, drugs and crime in Latvia. In: Leifman H, Edgren-Henrichson N, eds. Statistics on alcohol, drugs and crime in the Baltic Sea region. Helsinki, Nordic Council for Alcohol and Drug Research (NAD), 2000.
[2] & [5] Brunovskis, A, Ugland T. Alcohol consumption in the Baltic States: developments from 1994 to 1999. Oslo, Fafo Institute for Applied Social Science, 2002.
[3] Alcohol per capita consumption, patterns of drinking and abstention worldwide after 1995. Appendix 2. European Addiction Research, 2001, 7(3): 155-157.
[4] McKee M et. al. Alcohol consumption in the Baltic Republics. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2000, 54 (5): 361-366.
[6] & [7] 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.
[9] State Centre for Drug Abuse Prevention and Treatment (Narcology Centre) Annual Report 2002, supplemented by data from the Road Traffic Safety Directorate.
[10] European health for all database. World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe (http://hfadb.who.dk/hfa)
Other Documents
The prevalence and consequences of dependency inducing substances in Latvia
16th Edition. Riga 2008.