SUMMARY
A compendium of statistics on alcohol, derived from Health, Social Care, Criminal Justice, Customs & Excise and Survey data.

BACKGROUND
The publication is the latest biennial compilation of available information on alcohol and problematic drinking.  The information is collected from a wide range of relevant information sources.  Much of the information has been published previously by a wide range of organisations however the report publishes for the first time various ISD data which includes:

• 2004/05 information from psychiatric discharges with an alcohol related diagnosis (SMR 04)
• 2005/06 information from hospital discharges with an alcohol related diagnosis. (SMR 01)

There are four main sections:

1. The alcohol market - information relating to consumer spending on alcohol, taxation revenue and alcohol related employment
2. Alcohol consumption - information on levels and frequency of alcohol consumption by men, women and adolecents
3. Alcohol and health harm  - information on hospital episodes/service utilisation and alcohol related deaths
4. Alcohol and social harm -information relating to public opinion regardings alcohol consumption, alcohol related crime (including drinking in public places, drink driving and homicides) and information from the prison population.

Points of interest:

• In 2005 there were a total of 17,187 liquor licences in force in Scotland.  This is a slight reduction from 2000 (17,244) but up from 1980 (13,892) · In December 2005 there were 9,906 premises with one or more regular extensions to permitted hours
• Alcohol abuse is viewed by a majority of the population aged 16 and over as a serious social issue in Scotland.  Sixty per cent of respondents to the Scottish Crime and Victimisation Survey (SCVS) 2004 rated alcohol abuse as a big problem in Scotland (only 5% said that alcohol abuse is not a problem)
• The most recent Scottish Health Survey shows that in a usual week over a quarter (27%) of all men drank in excess of the recommended 21 units per week and 14% of all women drank over the recommended 14 units.· The percentage reporting drinking more than twice the recommended daily amounts of alcohol on heaviest drinking day in the past week was highest among those aged 16-24 years (62% of men drank 8 or more units, and 56% of women drank 6 or more units)
• In Scotland, in 2005/06, there were 39,061 general hospital discharges with an alcohol-related diagnosis, 4% of all general hospital discharges in that year (1,036,853 ).  71% (27,812 discharges) of alcohol related discharges were for males, 29% (11,249 discharges) were for females.
• Alcohol-related general hospital discharges were most common in the older age groups.  In 2005/06, the age groups with the highest discharge rates were those aged 50-54, 45-49  and 55-59.
• In 2005 there were 2,372 deaths in Scotland attributed to alcohol, a slight rise from 2004 (2,339) and an increase of 15% since 2001.  More men than women died of alcohol related conditions in 2005 (males 1,663, females 709)
• There were 139 persons accused in homicide cases in 2005/06.  Of these 19% (26 persons) were drunk and an additional 9% (13 persons) were both drunk and on drugs.  Forty-one per cent (57 persons) were on drugs.
• The 2005 Scottish Prison Survey shows that approximately two-thirds of both male and female prisoners felt their drinking was a problem outside prison: 34% and 30% respectively.  Male and female prisoners varied with regard to whether they reported being drunk at the time of offence: 40% of males compared with 31% of females

 

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MAIN CONTACT:

Stephen Pavis,
Assistant Head of Group
Epidemiology and Statistics,
Tel:0131 2756670

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Preview access to this publication was given to:  Scottish Executive Health Department

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History of this Publication:

Last Published:  April 2005
Next Due:  January 2009
First Published:  April 2005