Researchers say that in 2017 the world consumed ten percent more alcohol per adult than in 1990, due in large part to heavier and more widespread drinking in China and India. According to the report, global consumption per capita will rise another 17 percent over the next decade on current trends.
According to projections covering 189 countries, by 2030 almost half of all adults worldwide will drink alcohol, and almost a quarter will binge drink at least once a month. Around 40 and 22 per cent of men and women drank in 2017 in India, on average which is less than six litres of pure alcohol and is double the figure for 1990.
The authors said it is required to enforce more aggressive counter-measures such as higher taxes and a ban on advertising as the world is not on track to achieve global targets to reduce harmful alcohol use. By 2025 the goal is to reduce “harmful alcohol use” 10 percent by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO has said that alcohol is linked to around 200 diseases which accounts for more than three million deaths – 75 percent of them men – each year.