The death rates due to alcohol consumption per litre of alcohol consumed are highest in low-income countries and lowest in high-income countries. A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) highlights that 2.6 million deaths per year were attributable to alcohol consumption, accounting for 4.7% of all deaths, and 0.6 million deaths to psychoactive drug use. Notably, 2 million of alcohol and 0.4 million of drug-attributable deaths were among men. On this page, you can find a list of key insights as well as a list of visualizations on illicit drug use. This provides a global overview of illicit drug use, dependency disorders, and some of their impacts. The map shows the share of all road traffic deaths attributed to alcohol consumption over the national legal limit for alcohol consumption.
The disease burden from alcohol use disorders
Between 2002 and 2013, the rate of current illicit drug use increased from 8.5 to 9.5 percent for whites. Among blacks, the rate increased from 8.7 percent in 2003 and 2004 to 10.5 percent in 2013 (Figure 2.12).” “Among women aged 18 to 44 who were pregnant at the time of the survey interview, blacks difference between drugs and alcohol had a higher rate of binge alcohol use than the national average (8.1 vs. 3.6 percent) (Figure 5). As for past month alcohol use and past month illicit drug use, the rates appear to have been higher than the national average of pregnant women, but the differences were not statistically significant.
Drug Use Disorder (DUD)
- The map shows the share of all road traffic deaths attributed to alcohol consumption over the national legal limit for alcohol consumption.
- “3. A great deal of time is spent in activities necessary to obtain the substance, use the substance, or recover from its effects.
Estimates from the 2021 NSDUH should not be compared with estimates from previous years because the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated methodological changes to the data collection process. 2021 NSDUH report includes selected estimates by race, ethnicity, and age and is the most comprehensive key findings report to date. “It is important to note that 8th grade students were the first to show the two major shifts in marijuana prevalence — an increase at the start of the 1990s and a decrease by the end of the 1990s. As mentioned above, this suggests that 8th graders may be the most immediately responsive to changing influences in the larger social environment. The lag in the decline in the later grades likely reflects some cohort effects (i.e., lingering effects of changes in use that occurred when the students were in lower grades). “Although serious drug use is slightly more prevalent in poor minority neighborhoods than elsewhere, the major problem for disadvantaged neighborhoods is drug distribution. These communities are victims not only of their own drug abuse but also of a criminal drug market that serves the entire society. The market establishes itself in disadvantaged communities in part because of the low social capital in these neighborhoods. The drug economy further erodes that social capital.” “In the 2010 Census, 97 percent of all respondents (299.7 million) reported only one race (see Table 1).10 The largest group reported White alone (223.6 million), accounting for 72 percent of all people living in the United States.11 The Black or African-American alone population was 38.9 million and represented 13 percent of the total population.12 There were 2.9 million respondents who indicated American Indian and Alaska Native alone (0.9 percent). Approximately 14.7 million (about 5 percent of all respondents) identified their race as Asian alone.”
Alcohol Consumption
- “PWID [People Who Inject Drugs] accounted for 9 per cent of new adult HIV infections worldwide in 2020, with the proportion rising to 20 per cent outside sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV disproportionately affects adolescent girls and young women.91 UNODC, UNAIDS, WHO and the World Bank jointly estimated that in 2020 approximately one in every eight (12.4 per cent, down from 12.6 per cent in 2019) PWID worldwide were living with HIV, amounting to 1.4 million people.
- According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in the United States in 2023 among people aged 12 and older there were an estimated 22,276,000 lifetime users of MDMA, 2,153,000 past-year users, and 471,000 past-month users.
- Global data on the prevalence and effectiveness of alcohol use disorder treatment is incomplete.
- Drug use disorders are often classified within the same category as mental health disorders — research and data on mental health can be found on our topic page here.
- Department of Health and Human Services estimated in 1999 that substance abuse was a factor in two-thirds of all foster care placements.
Nearly 70% of law enforcement agencies in the western and midwestern areas of the United States view methamphetamine and fentanyl as the greatest threats to their populations. Learning about substance-related brain injury can help you understand whether these conditions are permanent or reversible, and it may also encourage you to start the path to recovery from substance use. NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow explains why we study teen drug use and shares a message to parents & teen influencers. Whilst the World Health Organization (WHO) and most national guidelines typically quantify one unit of alcohol as equal to 10 grams of pure alcohol, the metric used as a ‘standard measure’ can vary across countries. At the end of this topic page, we provide a number of potential sources of support and guidance for those concerned about uncontrolled drinking or alcohol dependency.
“ In 2013, heavy drinking was reported by 6.3 percent of the population aged 12 or older, or 16.5 million people. This percentage was similar to the rate of heavy drinking in 2012 (6.5 percent).” “ An estimated 10.1 percent of white adults reported heavy alcohol use in the past month. This was higher than the percentage among black adults (5.4 percent), Asian adults (2.9 percent), Hispanic adults (6.9 percent), and adults reporting two or more races (7.5 percent) (Figure 2.5 and Table 2.2). “Past Month Alcohol and Illicit Drug Use”Combined 2004 to 2008 data indicate that, in the past month, 44.3 percent of black adults used alcohol, 21.7 percent reported binge alcohol use, and 9.5 percent used an illicit drug (Figure 2). “Although about half of the people aged 12 or older (51.1 percent) drank alcohol in the past month and 1 in 5 (21.5 percent) used a tobacco product, use of illicit drugs was less common (Table A.1B). About 1 in 9 people aged 12 or older (11.7 percent) used an illicit drug in the past month.” “Among the 41.1 million current cigarette smokers aged 12 or older in 2022 (see the section on Cigarette Use), 24.1 million people (or 58.7 percent) were daily cigarette smokers (Figure 6). The percentage of people who were daily cigarette smokers among current cigarette smokers was highest among adults aged 26 or older (62.4 percent or 23.1 million people), followed by young adults aged 18 to 25 (26.7 percent or 996,000 people), then by adolescents aged 12 to 17 (3.1 percent or 10,000 people) (Table A.1B). “ Substantial differences were found in perceived availability of the various drugs (Tables 9-10 to 9-12). In 2022 the percentage of 12th graders reporting it would be fairly easy or easy to get a drug varied from 12% or less for heroin, crack, and crystal methamphetamines to 69% and above for alcohol, vaping devices, and marijuana.
- According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, alcohol causes 88,000 (62,000 men and 26,000 women) deaths every year.
- Effective prevention and treatment must address the unique challenges faced by people from all backgrounds.
- Many substance-related neurological complications or consequences may also be reversible.
- “Substance Use among Older Adults (Aged 65 or Older)”Older black adults had a rate of past month alcohol use that was considerably lower than the national average of older adults (20.3 vs. 38.3 percent) (Figure 4).
- “ Past month alcohol use was reported by 65.4 percent of current cigarette smokers compared with 48.3 percent of those who did not use cigarettes in the past month. This association also was found for binge alcohol use (43.6 percent of current cigarette smokers vs. 17.1 percent of current nonsmokers) and heavy alcohol use (15.8 vs. 3.9 percent, respectively).”
- “Cocaine use includes the use of crack. Estimates of crack use are presented separately as well. Among people aged 12 or older in 2022, 1.9 percent (or 5.3 million people) used cocaine in the past year (Figures 13 and 18 and Table A.5B). The percentage was highest among young adults aged 18 to 25 (3.7 percent or 1.3 million people), followed by adults aged 26 or older (1.8 percent or 3.9 million people), then by adolescents aged 12 to 17 (0.2 percent or 40,000 people).
American Addiction Centers (AAC) is committed to delivering original, truthful, accurate, unbiased, and medically current information. Data on the share who don’t drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK is available here. In a related https://ecosoberhouse.com/ chart, you can see the share who drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK. At the end of this topic page, you will find additional resources and guidance if you, or someone you know, needs support in dealing with alcohol dependency.
- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized expansion of Medicare coverage to include opioid treatment programs delivering MAT (medication-assisted-treatment) effective Jan. 1, 2020.
- Alcohol consumption has a causal impact on more than 200 health conditions (diseases and injuries).
- Among past year sedative misusers, the most common reason was to help with sleep (71.7 percent).
- As you can see, there are large differences in drug dependency across countries, with some – such as the United States and Canada – having several times the global average.
- This topic page looks at the data on global patterns of alcohol consumption, patterns of drinking, beverage types, the prevalence of alcoholism, and consequences, including crime, mortality, and road incidents.
- Limited research on the environmental impact of the improper disposal ofpharmaceuticals7 indicates that contamination from dissolved pharmaceutical drugs is present in extremely low levels in most of the nation’s water supply.