People under the age of 25 may be cutting back on booze, but it turns out UK drinkers still get drunk more often than many other countries in the world.
Drinkers in the UK reported getting drunk an average of 51.1 times in a 12-month period, according to a global report featuring 36 countries – which is basically once a week.
English-speaking countries topped the table for how often their citizens get drunk, with the USA, Canada and Australia closely following the UK at the top of the rankings.
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Figures from the Global Drug Survey 2019 found UK drinkers regretted just under a fifth (18.5%) of their drinking sessions, compared to 20% globally.
Women consistently reported feeling post-drinking regret more often than men, while German women over the age of 25 were most likely to be concerned about their sessions.
Overall, the data showed that in general, people “overwhelmingly like getting drunk”, the report said.
Researchers believe it may be time to introduce guidelines on how to get drunk “safely”, which would reach binge drinkers who don’t take note of their “upper limits”.
Professor Adam Winstock, founder of the Global Drug Survey, said current guidelines give little guidance on the difference between being “a little” drunk and “a lot” drunk.
“We need to have that conversation,” he said. “In the UK, we don’t tend to do moderation, we end up getting drunk as the point of the evening. Until culture changes and we become more European and moderate in our drinking, we might have to bite the bullet and think about how to advise people to get drunk, drinking less.”
The survey found the UK is second behind Australia in how many people sought emergency treatment following alcohol use in the last 12 months – 3.7% of respondents.
Current NHS guidelines say there is no “safe” level of drinking, but advise men and women to not drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week on a regular basis – around six pints of beer.
It is understood officials are not looking into amending advice at this stage, the researchers said.
The Alcohol Information Partnership, which is funded by the drinks industry, questioned the survey findings. “This report runs contrary to the vast weight of the data,” a spokesperson said.
“Major reports by globally-respected organisations such as the World Health Organisation and the ONS have consistently shown that drinking in the UK has been falling for more than a decade, and Brits are actually drinking less than many of our European neighbours.
“The industry remains committed to tackling harmful drinking and the evidence shows that the way people drink in the UK is changing with people increasingly choosing fewer, better quality drinks which is a positive move in the right direction.”
