Westmeath had 80 alcohol-related deaths in the last five years, it was revealed this week, and though our national consumption has dropped from its 2000 all-time high of 13 litres of pure alcohol per annum, Ireland still has the third highest consumption in Europe with 11.3 litres, a figure which is twice what it was in 1960.
This equates to 250 litres of 4.5 per cent strength beer or about 94 litres of wine each year. This works out at between nine and 10 pints of beer a week, or 10 bottles of wine a month.
For the first time ever, the HSE released this week the National Drug-Related Deaths Index (NDRDI ), a study into alcohol-related deaths among people who were alcohol dependent in Ireland, and the study looked at the years 2004 to 2008.
Though Westmeath is listed as second only to Mayo in national alcohol-poisoning figures, this translates as just 13 deaths over the studied period at a rate of 0.9 cases per 100,000. The national number of deaths during this period is 672.
Curiously, with the figures for non-poisoning deaths of the alcohol dependent, Westmeath comes second last in the nation just behind Carlow with 67 out of the 3,336 nationally between 2004 and 2008.
The most recent survey into Irish drinking patterns found that half of those polled had “a harmful drinking pattern”, a figure which equates to 1.5 million adults.
The World Health Organisation ranks alcohol as the eighth leading cause of death globally, out of 260 different injuries or diseases.
