Pensioners ‘more likely to be boozers than youngsters are’
MELBOURNE: Older people are twice as likely to drink heavily as people in their twenties, new figures have revealed.
The numbers, from the government-backed Health Survey for England, show that young people and increasing numbers of men are turning teetotal.
But close to a third of those in early retirement, aged between 65 and 74, were drinking at “risky levels”, which is defined as more than six medium (175ml) glasses of wine a week. This was up from a fifth just two years earlier.
This group is bucking the national trend. Nearly a quarter of adults across all age groups had not drunk alcohol in the past 12 months, the HSE study said, up from 19 per cent in 2022.
Researchers have said that the figures could mark a “generational shift” in how alcohol “fits into people’s lives” in Britain.
NHS guidelines recommend drinking no more than 14 units a week, equivalent to six 175ml glasses of wine or six average-strength pints of beer, and to spread that over three or more days. More than that is defined, in the health world at least, as “risky”.
Those aged between 65 and 74 were almost twice as likely to drink at “risky” levels as those aged 25 to 35 were, the survey found. The data showed that 29 per cent of the older age group are potentially risking their health with alcohol, compared to 14 per cent of the younger group.
The highest proportion of non-drinkers was found in the youngest age bracket, aged 16 to 24, with about a third abstaining completely, and young men were more likely to not drink than young women.
Experts have said that the trend for heavy boomer drinking was especially worrying because such consumption was likely to cause greater harm in older generations.
“It’s really worrying that older age groups are the most likely to drink at risk levels,” Katherine Severi, the chief executive of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, said. “We also know that they are far more likely to die of alcohol-related harm than younger groups.”
Even with fewer drinkers amongst them, Britain’s young are still drinking more than their peers in many similar countries, experts warned.
Severi said: “Research suggests that those who are choosing to cut back or stop drinking altogether are often doing so not just for health reasons, but because of deeper concerns about the world they’re growing up in, from economic insecurity to climate anxiety.
“This points to a generational shift in how alcohol fits into people’s lives, even if harmful drinking remains widespread among young people in the UK.”
The data showed that more men — 27 per cent — than women — 15 per cent — drank more than 14 units per week.
Some 5 per cent of men drank more than 50 units a week — just over three medium glasses of wine each evening, or five bottles of wine a week — and 3 per cent of women drank more than 35 units a week. Both are classed as “higher risk”.
Severi warned that millions in Britain continued to drink at risky levels, leading to the record number of alcohol deaths year-on-year since 2020. “Government policy has to catch up and introduce life-saving, evidence-based measures such as minimum unit pricing and comprehensive restrictions on alcohol marketing,” she added.
In 2023, there were 8,274 deaths were attributed solely to alcohol, which was the highest number since records began in 2006.