Italy: Alcohol Major Risk Through Life-course
The Italian Higher Health Institute (ISS) reports youth and older people are most at risk for alcohol harm. Overall 8.6 million Italians are at risk users of alcohol.
According to the report:
- 68,000 alcohol dependent people have been taken into treatment
- 4,575 road accidents are caused by alcohol each year
- The most at-risk individuals are young people between the ages of 16 and 17 and older people between 65 and 75 years.
Binge alcohol use, once taboo in Italy, has been steadily rising among Italian youth over the last two decades.
Alcohol harm in Italy
© WHO Global Alcohol Status Report 2018
WHO reports, 45.4% of alcohol using youth between 15 to 19 years binge on the substance. This especially harmful alcohol intake is even higher for Italian males with 57.6% of alcohol using teenage boys between 15 to 19 years bingeing on alcohol.
According to the new fact sheets published by WHO Europe, binge alcohol use is increasing for the total young population in Italy. The behavior is even worse in young adults between 20 to 24 years where 62% of men and 24.1% women engage in binge alcohol use.
Italy’s alcohol control policy has room for improvement specially in alcohol marketing. As the WHO recommends advertising bans is a key policy tool to reduce alcohol consumption and harm. While alcohol marketing may be regulated, Italy has yet to adopt bans on alcohol marketing in social media, alcohol sponsorship in sports events and youth events and bans of low cost promotions.