Brits top global binge-drinking list, Spain near the bottom with 'more sensible approach' to alcohol consumption

LONG-HELD stereotypes about wine-soaked Mediterranean culture and a laissez-faire attitude to drinking turn out to be completely the opposite of reality – but those about 'boozy Brits' are, statistically, true, according to the latest Global Drug Survey.

Despite alcohol in general, and particularly wine – largely because it is home-produced and very little of it is imported – being much cheaper in southern European countries, binge-drinking appears to be far more common in the UK and Anglo-Saxon nations in general; in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and to a certain extent, France, more so in the south, wine-drinking is normally associated with meals, and spirits and liqueurs as a shot to round off a dinner or a nip in a coffee, whilst beer is treated as a refreshing drink on a hot evening.

The survey does have its flaws, of course: It relies upon self-reporting, meaning there is no guarantee all participants are telling the whole truth, but the 100,000-plus people questioned all over the world is thought to be a stratified sample, meaning it reflects a microcosm of society.

It was conducted between November and December 2019, before the pandemic struck, and its main focus was finding out how often people in the various countries were likely to get themselves blind-drunk.

This was defined as consuming enough alcohol that their 'physical and mental faculties' were 'very seriously affected', such as 'losing balance' and 'unable to string a sentence together'.

Again, the definition may be flawed, since habitual heavy drinkers or full-blown alcohol addicts may rarely, if ever, reach this stage, whilst a person who is almost a non-drinker or only consumes once or twice a year may identify with the description after only two or three glasses of wine on a full stomach.

But for the purposes of the research, it is deemed that a person who does reach this state of being will have consumed far more alcohol than their system can tolerate, or in too short a time, which would normally be considered 'binge-drinking'.

And Spain is near the bottom of the list – with Italy even further down.

A total of 31 countries appear on the list, but England and Scotland, within the UK, are shown separately, giving 32 entries.

Scottish and English people admitted to getting blind-drunk according to the definition on average 33.8 and 33.7 times a year respectively, or about every 10.8 days.

Participants in Spain, which comes 27th out of 32, admitted to getting into this state through alcohol consumption 14 times a year, which works out at every 26 days, or a little more often than once a month.

Italians do not even average once a month, with a typical respondent becoming very seriously inebriated 11.7 times a year, and Portugal less often still, at 9.3 times a year.

México was in between the two, at 10, and was one of four Latin American countries listed, three of whom are near the bottom of the list – Argentina 31st, at 6.9 times a year, and Colombia right at the end, at 6.5 times a year – with only Brazil high up; its residents' 21.6 booze-binges per annum are 50% above Spain's, but only two-thirds of those of the UK.

Above Brazil, Ireland and France ranked the same, with their participants admitting to getting 'hammered' on average 25.9 times a year, and including the two UK regions, six of the top 10 are Anglo-Saxon nations: Australia comes directly below Scotland and England, with 31.7; the US comes sixth at 27.1; Canada seventh at 26.5, then Ireland and France jointly and Brazil at number 10.

It may have been speculated that the Scandinavian countries would either rank very highly – since colder areas and northern Europe tend to be associated, rightly or wrongly, with alcohol consumption – or very low down, given that drink is considerably more expensive in these nations than anywhere else on the continent.

Both these assumptions are correct: Denmark and Finland are four and five from the top, with their inhabitants admitting to becoming 'steaming drunk' 31.3 and 30.4 times a year respectively; but Sweden is 16th, exactly halfway down the list, and Norway is 20th, with their residents owning up to getting very heavily intoxicated 19.5 and 16.9 times a year respectively.

Nations known for their beer industry, such as Belgium, Austria, The Netherlands and Germany, were all above Spain but scattered throughout the list, from the Belgians' 20.9 paralytic episodes annually to the Germans' 15.3, via Austria's 20.5 and The Netherlands' 18.

Switzerland came directly below Belgium, and the Balkan nations – taken as one single country given the limited number of participants from each – matched Austria, whilst South Africa, with its world-famous wine industry, came between these and Sweden, with 20.2 violently-drunken annual incidents.

Russia is another country which has defied its stereotypes, coming in just below the halfway point at number 17 with 19.1 severe drinking spells reported, only slightly more frequent than New Zealand's 18.6.

Below Norway but above Germany were Slovakia (16.1 times a year), Poland (16 times a year), and Hungary (15.8 times).

Very similar to Spain, and only fractionally higher, were Greece (14.3) and Romania (14.1).

Over the year 2019, a total of 94% of respondents had consumed alcohol, 64% had consumed cannabis and 60.8% had smoked 'traditional' cigarettes; although the least-used drug worldwide turned out to be heroin, this was the one that required the highest incidence of urgent medical attention, with 12% of the global population being treated as a result of its consumption, taking the 100,000-plus respondents as representative of that population.

Founder of the Global Drug Survey, Adam R. Winstock, says: “The English and Scottish see alcohol as the only way of having fun and have never taken a moderate approach to drink.

“Many other cultures consider alcohol to be a mere accompaniment to their social life, and disapprove of drunkenness in public, but the British have often adopted drinking as a cultural identity.”

The company carried out another survey towards the end of 2020, solely in the UK, which revealed that 48% of Brits admitted to having been drinking more since the start of the pandemic than before.

It also showed that at least one in 20 of the under-25s had been treated in hospital on one or more occasions as a result of getting too drunk, more than doubling the global average for their age group, of one in 50.

The conclusion of the Global Drugs Survey is that alcohol is a 'serious and dangerous problem' in the UK, more so than any other drug, legal or illegal.

For residents in Spain, the conclusion is that the country on the whole has a much healthier attitude to drink, enjoying alcoholic beverages for their flavour rather than their effects, consuming them more moderately and at more appropriate times, knowing when to stop, and either treating them as a complement to a meal or as a small part of a social meet-up, with the main purpose of these being the friends and conversation rather than the alcohol itself as the focus.

Also, in Spain, drinking alcohol in public places is against the law – other than in bars or restaurants, inside or on their terraces, or during fiestas at pop-up street bars, alcohol consumption is mainly limited to private homes; sitting in a public park with a bottle, or walking down the street swigging booze, is normally subject to at least a warning, if not a fine.