The Czech Republic ranks third in Europe in alcohol consumption

Alcohol consumption is on the decline in the Czech Republic, but the country is still one of the hardest-drinking in Europe, according to a new report issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday.

The Czech Republic has the third-highest per capita consumption in Europe at 13.3 liters of pure alcohol per year, trailing only Georgia and Romania. Despite the high total, this represents a decrease from 2021, when Czechia led the EU at 14.3 liters, according to the WHO's annual European Health Report.

Alcohol consumption is widespread across the continent, and Europeans drink far more alcohol than any other region in the world, reports the WHO. The organization estimates that 2,200 people in Europe die every day due to alcohol consumption.

The WHO's European region includes 53 countries, including EU member states, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Russia, and the Central Asian former Soviet republics.

“Europe still holds an unenviable record not only for the highest consumption of alcohol per person but also for the lowest number of abstainers,” said Gauden Galea, a public health expert and adviser to WHO Regional Director Hans Kluge.

The global average alcohol consumption is the equivalent of two glasses of wine or two small beers per day, which the WHO already considers an increased health risk.

The latest WHO report on global alcohol consumption shows that Europeans over the age of 15 drink an average of 9.2 liters of pure alcohol per capita per year. The global average is significantly lower at 5.5 liters of alcohol per person.

Seven of the world’s ten countries with the highest alcohol consumption are in the EU, including the Czech Republic, which ranks third with 13.3 liters per person, behind Georgia (14.3 liters) and Romania (17 liters). Germany (12.2 liters) and Austria (12 liters) also have high alcohol consumption levels, just behind the Czech Republic.

According to WHO data, men in the European region drink 14.9 liters of pure alcohol per year, which is almost four times more than women, who drink an average of 4 liters of alcohol. It is estimated that one in ten adults has a problem with alcohol, and almost one in twenty is addicted.

Despite the alarming statistics, only 12 of the 53 countries in the WHO’s European region have made progress in meeting the goal of reducing alcohol consumption by 10 percent by 2025 compared to 2010, the WHO's regional office in Copenhagen warned.

The region is moving closer to this goal due to significant decreases in consumption in some populous countries, such as Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. In contrast, EU countries have had no significant changes in this regard for more than ten years.