Drinking patterns have almost returned to pre-COVID levels in Ireland. Both teetotaling and the per capita consumption of the rest are up. New technology uncovers some new facts as well.
Ireland’s Health Research Board (HRB) released its 2024 figures for the country’s drinking patterns in 2022-2023. The HRB made use of newer technology to uncover patterns that can show where it’s still higher than hoped for. The HRB also pointed out that excise taxes on alcohol contributed 1.26 billion euro to the Irish budget, but that the toll of unfettered consumption is taking still taking a toll on the economy as well as lives. There are fewer drinkers and fewer pubs, but consumption has not dropped by according percentages.
20% Fewer pubs? Where are they?
The number of licences for pubs has dropped tremendously in the past 18 years. There were 9731 licenced pubs in 2003, versus 7753 in 2021. The COVID era saw a 3% drop in the number of pubs, a drop which was accompanied by a 6% rise in the number of off-licences over the same time.
Despite the drop in the number of pubs overall, Ireland has the third-highest number of pubs per 100,000 people, behind only Slovakia and Hungary. Spain also has more establishments selling alcohol if bars, nightclubs, and beer gardens are included.
This year, the NHB conducted a geospatial analysis to determine how close people live to a place with a liquor licence. They found that 73% of Ireland’s people (or 3.48 million people) live within 300 meters (straight line, not by road) of a site with a liquor licence. Slightly more than one half all secondary schools and over 40% of all primary schools are within 300 metres of a site licenced to sell alcohol (52.3% and 42.7%, respectively). Moreover, the density of premises selling alcohol within an area correlated directly with the socio-economic poverty of the neighbourhood.
The cost of alcohol harm
According to the authors, “Alcohol is the leading health risk factor among those aged 25–49 years. Alcohol use is responsible for over 5% of all deaths annually...” As far as the price paid for consumption, the authors noted that calculating the cost of alcohol use and abuse is not easy. A survey published in 2021 in the academic journal PharmacoEconomics put the cost in higher income countries at 2.6% of each country’s GDP, or for Ireland, about 12 billion euro. There are calls for those consuming alcohol to fund a greater portion of the eventual costs by levying taxes on sellers.
Fewer people in Ireland are drinking. Teetotalers now comprise roughly a third of the population now, up from 25% in 2018. Drinking is down to 9.9 litres of pure alcohol equivalent per capital from 10.8 litres in 2019.
Argomenti
