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Is the Postwar Drinking Binge Ending? Cross‐National Trends in Per Capita Alcohol Consumption
Author(s) -
SMART REGINALD G.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
british journal of addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0952-0481
DOI - 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1989.tb03053.x
Subject(s) - per capita , binge drinking , alcohol consumption , consumption (sociology) , alcohol , economics , environmental health , agricultural economics , medicine , chemistry , sociology , social science , population , biochemistry
Summary Examination is made of per capita alcohol consumption data for 33 (largely developed) countries for 4 periods of time–1951–1952, 1968–1970, 1974–1976 and 1983–1984. The trends indicate that there was a large increase in consumption between 1950–1952 and 1974–1976 in most countries. However, after 1974–1976, consumption stabilized or decreased in most. Declines appear to be more common in wine‐drinking countries and in those with very high levels of consumption. The tendency for countries to have a dominant beverage has declined: the overall trend has been towards beer consumption and away from spirits consumption. Reasons for the results include demographic changes and life style changes towards greater interest in health.