Death rate from alcoholism in Britain highest for 10 years

Alcohol-specific deaths in Britain have returned to the level of 10 years ago when it was the highest ever recorded, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Tuesday.

Scotland, famed as the home of Scotch whisky, remains as the part of Britain with the highest rate of alcohol specific deaths, the report revealed.

Across Britain in 2017 there were 7,697 alcohol-specific deaths, equating to a rate of 12.2 deaths per 100,000 population.

Since 2001 when the current system of records started rates of alcohol-specific deaths among males have been more than double those observed among females, 16.8 and 8.0 deaths per 100,000 in 2017 respectively).

The figures are based on people who died as a direct result of alcohol misuse, such as alcoholic liver disease.

Last year alcohol-specific death rates were highest among 55 to 59-year old females and 60 to 64-year-old males.

Although Scotland had the highest rate of alcohol-specific deaths in 2017 it was the only part of Britain to experience a statistically significant 21 percent decrease in rates from 2001.

The report shows that Scotland has had the highest alcohol-specific death rate in Britain since the time series began in 2001, while England has had the lowest. The rate in Scotland in 2017 was 20.5 deaths per 100,000 people, while in England it was 11.1 deaths per 100,000 people. The alcohol-specific death rates in Wales and Northern Ireland in 2017 were 13.5 and 17.4 deaths per 100,000 people respectively.

Across England the rate of alcohol-specific deaths was highest in the North East region while London had the lowest rate (7.8 deaths per 100,000 people) of any region for the first time since 2011. With the exception of London, all regions have significantly higher alcohol-specific rates in 2017 than in 2001 in both men and women.

Although the alcohol-specific death rate in England remained the lowest in Britain at 7.4 deaths per 100,000 females, England was the only part of Britain to have a significant increase in the female rate since 2001.

It has seen an increase of 32 percent from 5.6 deaths per 100,000. In contrast, the female alcohol-specific death rate in 2017 for Scotland, at 11.6 deaths per 100,000, was the lowest since 2013, and a statistically significant decrease of 20 percent since 2001.