Official figures show that alcohol-related deaths have reached a record high in the UK. A charity has called for a change of approach to harm prevention.
<a href=”https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/causesofdeath/bulletins/alcoholrelateddeathsintheunitedkingdom/registeredin2023#:~:text=In%202023%3A,16.6%20deaths%20per%20100%2C000%20people). The data released by the Office for National Statistics, which comes after a five-year period of increasing death rates year-on-year, has led Alcohol Change UK to urge the government to act.
The ONS reported that in 2023, alcohol was directly responsible for the deaths of 10,473 UK citizens. This represents a 4% rise from the 10,048 deaths in 2022 and a 38% jump compared to 2019 when 7,565 lives were lost.
The increase in deaths between 2022 and 2023 is mainly due to increases in England and Wales. These countries saw increases of 4,6% and 15,6% respectively. Over this time period, deaths did not increase in Scotland and slightly decreased in Northern Ireland.
Ash Singleton is the director of research and Public Affairs at Alcohol Change UK. He said that “the tragically high numbers of alcohol-specific death, and thousands more deaths not included in these data, where alcohol was a contributing factor are not a coincident, but rather a direct consequence of years of inaction by government to combat this harm in order to save and improve life.”
The charity wants the government to introduce a minimum unit price in England to curb problem drinking.
The report also calls for a new strategy on alcohol in England that focuses on population-level measures, such as restrictions on alcohol advertising and mandatory alcohol labels, among other measures.
The figures only cover deaths caused by alcohol-related diseases, like alcohol-related liver disease that accounted for 75.6% alcohol-specific UK deaths in 2023.
Singleton said that alcohol-related deaths are not included in the ‘biggest killers,’ which include cardiovascular disease, mental illness, and cancer. The government is aiming to reduce these three conditions by half.
