Percentage of men and women who had drunk alcohol on 5 days or more in the week prior to interview by age: Great Britain, 2002
The GHS uses two measures of alcohol consumption:
- maximum daily amount drunk last week; and
- average weekly alcohol consumption.
When drinking questions were first asked on the GHS in 1978, weekly-based measures of alcohol consumption were reported. Questions relating to maximum daily amount have been asked since 1998, reflecting the move in 1995 from weekly-based to daily-based guidelines from the Department of Health. Longer-term trend data are therefore currently only available for weekly-based measures.
Maximum daily amount drunk last week
There were no statistically significant changes overall between 1998 and 2002 in the proportion of men drinking more than their recommended number of daily units on any day of the week prior to interview. However, in the youngest age group of men (aged 16 to 24) there is evidence of a slight downward trend in the percentage drinking more than four units on at least one day in the week prior to interview.
Between 1998 and 2002, the proportion fell from 52 per cent to 49 per cent, while the proportion drinking more than eight units fell from 39 per cent to 35 per cent. In women, however, there was a significant increase in the proportion drinking more than six units on at least one day in the previous week (from 8 per cent in 1998 to 10 per cent in 2000). It has remained at that level since.
Most of the increase occurred in the younger age groups, for example, among women aged 16 to 24 the proportion drinking more than 6 units rose from 24 per cent in 1998 to 28 per cent in 2002.
Weekly alcohol consumption level
During its history the GHS has recorded a slight increase in overall weekly alcohol consumption among men and a much more marked one among women. Weekly alcohol consumption among women rose from 10 per cent drinking over the recommended weekly benchmark of 14 units a week in 1988 to 17 per cent in 2002.
The increase was greatest among 16 to 24 year old women, almost doubling between 1992 and 2002 from 17 per cent to 33 per cent. Average weekly consumption for women in this age group increased from 7.3 to 14.1 units during the same 20-year period.
For more detailed information, please download the Drinking PDF on the right-hand side of the page.
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