In 2023, 10,473 deaths from alcohol-specific causes were registered in the UK. However, the rate of alcohol-specific deaths (15.9 per 100,000 people) decreased slightly compared with 2022, (16.6 deaths per 100,000 people) (Office for National Statistics, 2025). These statistics cover only alcohol-specific deaths, caused wholly by alcohol, such as alcohol poisoning and alcohol related liver disease.
Prevalence of Past-Month Heavy Alcohol Use
There were decreases in both the non-opiate and the alcohol only groups’ successful completion rate, and a slight increase in the opiate group, but all fluctuation was within 2 percentage points. The number of people in treatment who said they had a problem with alcohol only are shown from 2009 to 2010 onwards What is alcohol use disorder when national alcohol treatment data collection started. The RSDATG started in 2020 to 2021, and at the end of 2024 to 2025 it funded services in 83 local authorities.
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- Only 9% of opiate referrals came from healthcare compared to 28% of alcohol only referrals.
- In a related chart, you can see the share who drink alcohol by gender and age group in the UK.
- People with opiate problems accounted for nearly two-thirds (65%) of these deaths, and the alcohol only group had a further 28% of deaths.
Alcohol consumption by type of alcoholic beverage
- A social worker can direct you to community programs that offer help, for example, Alcoholics Anonymous.
- By fortifying community resources and ensuring that every individual has a pathway to professional help, we can gradually tip the scales toward long-term recovery and healthier, more resilient communities.
- They are responsible for assessing local need for treatment and commissioning a range of services and interventions to meet that need.
- The bottom line is that alcohol is potentially addictive, can cause intoxication, and contributes to health problems and preventable deaths.
More than two-thirds of people in treatment were men and less than one-third were women (68% men to 32% women). For the drug groupings, men made up just over two-thirds (opiate 73%, non-opiate only 69%, non-opiate and alcohol 71%). But in the alcohol only group the divide is smaller with men making up 60% and women 40%.
4 Treatment exits and deaths in treatment
Figure 5 shows the number of people starting treatment who reported problems with each substance, separated into the 4 substance groups. However, alcohol was the third most frequently reported substance in the opiate group after opiates and crack cocaine. More than half (52%) of people said they had problems with alcohol, with most of these being in the alcohol only group. Over one-fifth of adults in treatment (21%) said they had problems with cannabis, most commonly this was alongside opiates. Cocaine (non-crack) use was reported by 16% of people, the largest proportion of whom were in the non-opiate and alcohol substance group.
Share of adults who don’t drink alcohol
Be sure to ask your healthcare professional about what’s right for your health and safety. Knowing what counts as a heavy drinking day—4 or more drinks for women and 5 or more for men—can be clinically useful in two ways. For example, if you’re receiving treatment for a condition related to alcohol use, like cirrhosis of the liver, you should ask your healthcare provider about changes in your body that may be new symptoms. If you’re receiving counseling, ask your provider about handling high-stress situations when you may feel like you need some additional mental health support. Mutual-support groups provide peer support for stopping or reducing drinking.
Am I drinking too much alcohol?
A further 22% had problems with other drugs, and over Substance abuse a quarter (29%) had problems with alcohol only. These proportions are similar to previous years and you can find more detailed information on trends in chapter 12 (Trends over time). There were 126,118 people who exited the drug and alcohol treatment system in 2021 to 2022.
- Symptoms (which are typically experienced in addition to others caused by alcohol withdrawal) include delirium (confusion), high blood pressure, and agitation.
- People with an opiate problem are placed in the ‘opiate’ substance group regardless of whether other substances are also problematic.
- This includes children who live with parents who are in treatment, and those who are living with someone in treatment who is not their parent.
- Estimates of the number of alcohol dependent adults in each local authority in England.
Research has demonstrated that long-term heavy drinking weakens the heart muscle, causing cardiomyopathy. Alcohol misuse can also lead to high blood pressure, an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia), or increased heart rate. Chronic, heavy drinking raises the risk for ischemic heart disease (heart problems caused by narrowed arteries) and myocardial infarction (heart attack). Fifteen per cent of all people starting treatment were currently injecting or had previously injected drugs.
Addiction also demands a shift in public attitude – seeing substance use disorders less as moral failings and more as treatable health conditions. Greater empathy, combined with evidence-based policy, can dismantle stigma, boost treatment-seeking behavior, and lower relapse rates. Friends gather for after-work drinks, spouses have cocktails together for “date nights” or some may just be in the habit of ending the day with a beer or a glass of wine—or two—or more. It can be hard to identify the lines between casual and occasional drinking and unhealthy alcohol use including alcohol use disorder. Alcohol misuse offers a window into other medical conditions—everything from liver enzymes to anxiety disorders.