32 litres of pure alcohol

ELLANIE SMIT Namibian drinkers take in 70.1 grams of pure alcohol each daily, while they also consume a whopping 32.4 litres of pure alcohol, on average, per person a year.This puts Namibia’s drinking population in second place in Africa.To put this into perspective, 33 grams of pure alcohol is roughly the equivalent to two glasses of wine (150 ml each), a large (750 ml) bottle of beer or two shots of spirits (40ml each).Only eSwatini’s drinking population consumes more pure alcohol per capita than Namibia, at an average of 34.4 litres per person.Namibia’s male drinking population consumes, on average, 40.9 litres of pure alcohol per person per year, while female drinkers consume 15.2 litres annually.A massive 60% of drinkers in Namibia are excessive drinkers and 18% of the population are heavy episodic drinkers.This is the first time these types of detailed statistics on alcohol consumption have been released.The statistics are contained in the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health for 2018, which was released on Friday.When the total per capita pure alcohol consumption of Namibia’s population aged 15 years and older is taken into account, the average annual consumption stood at 9.8 litres per person by 2016.However, with this revised average, Namibia still ranks as one of the top ten countries in Africa in terms of highest pure alcohol consumption per capita.With the 15 year olds added in, the average consumption was 11.5 litres in 2015.The latest statistics in this regard show that per capita, 17.3 litres of pure alcohol is consumed by men in Namibia and 2.9 litres by women.However, when only the adult drinkers are taken into account, the per capita pure alcohol figure shoots up to 32.4 litres per person. This is the second highest in Africa.The report projected that by 2020, Namibia’s total alcohol consumption will be 10 litres of pure alcohol per person.It indicated that of the pure alcohol consumed in Namibia 60% is beer, 10% is wine, 13.9% is spirits and 15.6% is other alcohol products.A total of 69.7% of Namibians abstained from using alcohol during the past 12 months.A total 15.4% of these people are former drinkers and 54.3% are lifetime abstainers.The report also found that 197 deaths in Namibia were caused by alcohol-related traffic accidents during 2016, while 40 people died from cancer and 97 from liver cirrhosis attributed to alcohol use.Worldwide in 2016 more than half (57% or 3.1 billion) of the global population aged 15 years and over had abstained from drinking alcohol in the previous 12 months.About 2.3 billion people are current drinkers worldwide.Total pure alcohol per capita consumption in the world’s population over 15 years of age rose from 5.5 litres in 2005 to 6.4 litres in 2010 and was still at the same level in 2016.Current drinkers consume, on average, 32.8 grams of pure alcohol per day, and this is some 20% higher (40 grams per day) in the African region.Worldwide, 44.8% alcohol is consumed in the form of spirits. The second most consumed is beer (34.3%), followed by wine (11.7%).The prevalence of heavy episodic drinking has decreased globally from22.6% in 2000 to 18.2% in 2016 among the total population, but remains high among drinkers, particularly in parts of Eastern Europe and in some sub-Saharan African countries (over 60% of current drinkers).The harmful use of alcohol causes a large disease, social and economic burden in societies.It can also result in harm to other people, such as family members, friends, co-workers and strangers.Alcohol consumption is a causal factor in more than 200 disease and injury conditions. Drinking alcohol is associated with the risk of developing health problems, such as mental and behavioural disorders, including alcohol dependence, major non-communicable diseases such as liver cirrhosis, some cancers and cardiovascular diseases, as well as injuries resulting from violence and road clashes and collisions.A significant proportion of the disease burden attributable to alcohol consumption arises from unintentional and intentional injuries, including those due to road traffic crashes, violence and suicides.Fatal alcohol-related injuries tend to occur in relatively younger age groups.

32 litres of pure alcohol

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-28

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32 litres of pure alcohol

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-28

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