While alcohol consumption is reportedly going up globally, there are a few nations that are gulping down more than their fair share.
This according to a recent study conducted by the World Health Organization that shows Canada and the United States as the leading countries when it comes to consuming alcoholic beverages.
Worldwide consumption is up as well, the study claims. Globally, individuals above 15 years of age drink on average 6.2 liters of pure alcohol per year. However the study shows a wide variation in total alcohol consumption across the regions the report covers as the highest consumption levels continue to be found in the developed world, in particular in Europe and the Americas.
"The amount of drinking around the world is going up, especially in India and China, where incomes are rising and alcohol marketing is active," the report noted.
The reported cited that Americans drink 7.5-9.9 liters of alcohol per person per year while Canadians gulp down more than 12.5 liters each, as do Russians and Australians.
The report also shows that Africans (roughly half the consumption level of North America) and residents of Southeast Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean drink the least of all the regions.
As for what adult beverages the world is drinking these days, just over half of recorded alcohol intake is in the form of spirits, with beer next on the list, accounting for about 35 percent of consumption. Wine consumption comprises just 8 percent of global consumption.
The inherent health risks of alcohol consumption are also reviewed in the report as it breaks down exactly how drinkers drink and what that means for their health risk.
"Alcohol consumption also contributes to about 10 percent of the disease burden due to tuberculosis, epilepsy, hemorrhagic stroke and hypertensive heart disease in the world," the report added. "Drinking with meals or drinking daily or nearly daily presented the least health risk to the drinker."
The serious nature of these health concerns is pointed out in the report as well as it cites that about 3.3 million deaths in 2012 were estimated to have been caused by alcohol consumption. This corresponds to 5.9% of all deaths, or one in every 20 deaths in the world (7.6% for men, 4.0% for women).
Globally, Europe has the highest consumption of alcohol per capita, with some of its countries having particularly high consumption rates. And the report notes trend analysis shows that the consumption level is stable there over the last 5 years, as well as in Africa and the Americas, though increases have been reported in the Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific regions.
