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Alcohol Causes One In 20 Deaths Worldwide, Says WHO (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Alcohol is responsible for more than 5% of all deaths worldwide, or around 3 million a year, new figures have revealed. The data, part of a report from the World Health Organization, shows that about 2.3 million of those deaths in 2016 were of men, and that almost 29% of all alcohol-caused deaths were down to injuries -- including traffic accidents and suicide. The report, which comes out every four years, reveals the continued impact of alcohol on public health around the world, and highlights that the young bear the brunt: 13.5% of deaths among people in their 20s are linked to booze, with alcohol responsible for 7.2% of premature deaths overall. It also stresses that harm from drinking is greater among poorer consumers than wealthier ones. While the proportion of deaths worldwide that have been linked to alcohol has fallen to 5.3% since 2012, when the figure was at 5.9%, experts say the findings make for sobering reading.

3 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Slashdot, are you turning into a Puritan? by sandbagger · · Score: 5, Informative

    To be fair, it is the number one way to screw up your life. And if not the number one, it's in the top two. This drug is widely available, people self-medicate with it because it has social blessing, it's advertised everywhere and yes, there's even a word for abusing it that's in common parlance -- alcoholism. It's not just the deaths it's the messed second, third and fourth order consequences.

    Let me give a simple example: alcohol abuse makes you a lousy parent.

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    ---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
  2. List of causes of death by rate by chthon · · Score: 4, Informative

    List of causes of death by rate

    I think that there are more pressing causes of death, which might increase the need for a drink.

    Undid some funny moderation, because I think there are a couple of people worldwide who like to use every opportunity to ban alcohol, even though it is not really a leading cause of death worldwide.

  3. Overpopulation is a bigger problem than alcohol by cyberspittle · · Score: 1, Informative

    Overpopulation is a leading cause of global warming