Health Story

04 July 2009 22:43 BST

Alcohol-related deaths double

Alcohol-related deaths have more than doubled in the past 14 years, government statistics revealed today.

In 1991, 4,144 such deaths were recorded but this figure rose to 8,386 in 2005.

The corresponding alcohol-related death rate increased from 6.9 per 100,000 of the population in 1991 to 12.9 in 2005.

Alcohol Concern, the national agency on alcohol misuse, said that the figures were "very tragic but not very surprising".

Males experienced a greater number of deaths from alcohol than women, with the gap between the number of deaths in men and women widening over the past 14 years.

Accounting for two-thirds of the total deaths, the male death rate in 2005 stood at 17.9 per 100,000 in comparison to 8.3 deaths per 100,000 women.

Both men and women between the ages of 35 and 54 saw the biggest increases in alcohol-related deaths. For men, rates in this age group more than doubled and in women the rates were almost double those of 1991.

But those of both sexes aged between 55 and 74 had the highest number of deaths related to alcohol; in 2005 the rate in this age group was 43.4 per 100,000.

Commenting on the figures, Liberal Democrat health spokesman Steve Webb said that the government has "failed miserably" in tackling alcohol misuse.

"These problems are simply not taken seriously enough within the NHS, as alcohol treatment programmes remain grossly underfunded. Public health budgets are also being raided across the country to plug spiralling deficits," he said.

"Ministers have done very little to tackle the root causes of our binge drinking culture or the growing cost of excessive drinking to personal health and the taxpayer."

A spokesman for Alcohol Concern agreed that more money needs to be allocated for tackling alcoholism, arguing that although alcohol kills as much as three times as many people than drugs, government spending does not reflect this.

The agency believes that for every £1 spent the government would save £5 in NHS and policing costs.

The spokesman said: "While we would argue that the statistics are very tragic they're not very surprising. Since 1950 there has been a link between alcohol and health problems.

"What is worrying is the increase in the number of deaths between people aged between 35 and 54."

He added that the government and primary care trusts need to do more to identify and help hazardous drinkers (those who drink obsessively, harming their health and potentially other people's health).