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18th Oct 2017

This EU report on binge drinking makes sobering reading for Irish men and women

These are some sobering statistics.

JOE

Irish people came out on top in the 18-24 list.

A survey conducted by the Central Statistics Union (CSO) regarding binge drinking in the European Union has found that Irish people aged between 18-24 had the highest rate in 2014.

The data for that year was released on Wednesday and shows that more than a quarter of men and more than 15% of women in that age bracket engaged in binge drinking in Ireland at least once a week.

Binge drinking is defined as having six or more standard drinks in one session, which is the equivalent of three pints of beer or six pub measures of spirits.

The average EU standard for the male gender of that age bracket is 11.7% but Irish men come in at over double that on 26.8%, nearly a full percent more than second-placed Belgium.

Furthermore, the average for women is 4.3% but Irish women aged between 18-24 binge drink almost four times the amount with 15.5% saying they had a heavy episode of drinking at least once a week.

Irish men in the 24-64 age bracket are on a level platform with Finland on 21.2%, just behind first-placed Romania on a total of 23.2%.

However, Irish women top that age group with 6.5% of drinkers admitting to having six or more standard drinks at least once a week.

When measuring all ages from 18+, Ireland’s men (20.8%) and women (6.8%) took the number one spot once again.

When the two genders were combined, 21.4% of the youngest bracket admitted to binge-drinking, 13.8% of drinkers in the 24-64 age bracket have six or more standard drinks at least once a week and 13.7% from 18+ admitted to heavy episodes of drinking.

Cyprus, Latvia and Italy were among the countries with the lowest number of binge-drinkers.