Statistics on Alcohol: England

In 2022, 56% of adults in England reported drinking alcohol in the last week. Men were more likely to drink than women: 61% of men and 51% of women reported that they drank alcohol during the previous week.

A greater proportion of men exceed the recommended weekly limit for alcohol consumption. In 2022, 30% of men exceeded the weekly limit, double the proportion of women (15%).

Among those aged 16 to 24 years, women were more likely to have drunk on 5 or more days in the past week than men: 7% compared with 3%. Younger adults, aged 16–24, were the least likely to drink in excess of 14 units per week (24% of men and 14% of women).

In 2021, 40% of children aged 11-15 reported that they had an alcoholic drink at some point in their life. Most children who had an alcoholic drink obtained the alcohol from their parents (75%), and consumed it with their parents (67%), friends (52%) or other relatives (38%).

Alcohol-specific conditions were responsible for 320,082 hospital admissions in England in 2022/23, a rate of 581 per 100,000 population. Just over two-thirds (69%) of these admissions related to male patients.

There were 10,048 alcohol-specific deaths in the UK in 2022. Alcoholic liver disease was the most common cause, accounting for 77% of alcohol-specific deaths.