15-Year-Old Girls in UK Are Biggest Binge Drinkers in Europe

Recent reports about Europe’s problems with alcohol revealed that teenage girls in Britain ...

15:53 03 July 2012

Recent reports about Europe’s problems with alcohol revealed that teenage girls in Britain are bigger binge drinkers compared to those in other areas in the country. Binge drinking, in this context, refers to having five or more drinks on at least one occasion within a one-month period. 

 

The results of the study showed that more than half of girls aged between 15 and 16 are found to drink excessively at least once every month. The shocking statistics also reveals that girls (55%) in UK binge-drink more than the boys (52%), which is a very rare case. 

 

These reports were released by the Department of Health, which also disclosed that the overall cost of the alcohol problems that the UK economy has to suffer is now more than £21billion per year. 

 

This is supported by several other statistics, including a continuing increase in the number of hospital admissions associated with alcohol consumption, as well as a 30% increase, within a period of just three years, in the amount that the NHS spends to deal with the alcohol problems in the country. And for the first time, the country’s death cases caused by chronic liver disease, which is strongly related to alcoholism, are now more than those of France. 

 

In line with these reports, the Department of Health released some warnings. According to them, young adults who binge-drink at home even before they go to the pub have a greater likelihood of getting involved in criminal activity. To support this, the paper discussed a study, which revealed that 66% of people aged 17 to 30 who were arrested in a single city in England were found to have pre-loaded even before going out. The study also showed that the likelihood of their being involved in violence is two and a half times higher. 

 

The report placed the blame on the low prices of alcoholic beverages in supermarkets, saying that this had “significant impacts on health and crime.”