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India's annual alcohol intake increased by 38 percent between 2010 and 2017, according to a study published on 8 May, which found the total volume of alcohol consumed globally per year has risen by 70 per cent since 1990.
Published in The Lancet journal, the study of 189 countries' alcohol intake between 1990-2017 along with the estimated intake up to 2030 suggests that the world is not on track to achieve the targets against harmful alcohol use.
Between 2010 and 2017, alcohol consumption in India increased by 38 per cent- from 4 .3 to 5.9 litres per adult per year, said researchers from TU Dresden in Germany.
Over the same timescale, consumption increased slightly in the US (9.3-9.8 litres) and in China (7.1-7.4 litres), they said.
As a result of increased alcohol consumption and population growth, the total volume of alcohol consumed globally per year has increased by 70 per cent- from 20,999 million litres in 1990 to 35,676 million litres in 2017.
Intake is growing in low- and middle-income countries, while the total volume of alcohol consumed in high-income countries has remained stable.
Alcohol is a major risk factor for disease, and is causally linked to over 200 diseases, in particular non-communicable diseases and injuries, they said.
According to study author Jacob Manthey from TU Dresden,
"This trend is forecast to continue up to 2030 when Europe is no longer predicted to have the highest level of alcohol use," said Manthey.
He said the World Health Organization (WHO)'s aim of reducing the harmful use of alcohol by 10 per cent by 2025 will not be reached globally.
Instead, alcohol use will remain one of the leading risk factors for the burden of disease for the foreseeable future, and its impact will probably increase relative to other risk factors.
The study measured per capita alcohol consumption using data from the WHO and the Global Burden of Disease study.
Over the same period, it also measured prevalence of people who did not drink for their whole lives or were current drinkers (i.e, drank alcohol at least once a year) using surveys for 149 countries, and binge drinkers using surveys from 118 countries.
Binge drinkers were those consuming 60 grammes or more pure alcohol in one sitting once or more within 30 days. Some of the findings were:
However, the authors note that the changes in abstinence and heavy episodic drinking are not statistically significant.
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Published: 08 May 2019,03:34 PM IST