European region: the risk of dying from an alcohol-attributable cause
The WHO European Region has the highest proportion in the world of total ill health and premature death due to alcohol. At a societal level, the European Union is the heaviest alcohol consuming region in the world.
A country’s total per capita alcohol consumption is closely related to its prevalence of alcohol-related harm and alcohol dependence. This high level of harm hides enormous alcohol-related health inequalities between eastern and western Europe, particularly for injury deaths.
New infographic
WHO Europe has published a new infographic: The risk of dying from an alcohol-attributable cause. The new infographic highlights that alcohol causes tremendous health inequalities – in-between countries and inside countries.
This new infographic is part of WHO Europe’s work on the European Information System on Alcohol and Health (EISAH) provides easy and rapid access to a wide range of alcohol-related health statistics. This joint project of the European Commission, WHO headquarters and WHO/Europe is part of the Global Information System on Alcohol and Health (GISAH).
The infographic shows:
The risk of dying from an alcohol-attributable cause is 7 times higher in people from the eastern part of the European Region than from the Mediterranean part.”
Alcohol causes, among others, liver cirrhosis, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and injuries.