Boozy ladettes are fuelling a huge rise in binge drinking – with experts warning many are drinking themselves to death.
The number of binge drinkers in the UK rose by 13% between 2016 and 2019, according to research by the World Health Organisation.
“Women drove the increase, with the number of heavy drinkers rising by 57%, from 13.8% of all women in 2016 to 21.7% three years later.”
READ MORE: Met Office warns Britain is set for ‘heatwaves and thunderstorms’ in weather chaos
In 2016, 13.8% of women in the general population reported heavy episodic drinking, which rose to 21.7% by 2019.
(Image: Getty Images)
Heavy episodic drinking means consuming 60g or more of alcohol – the equivalent of 7.5 units – on at least one occasion in the past 30 days.
That is the same as drinking just over three pints of medium-strength beer, or five small glasses of wine, or around seven single gin and tonics.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said: “Substance use severely harms individual health, increasing the risk of chronic diseases, mental health conditions, and tragically resulting in millions of preventable deaths every year.”
(Image: Getty Images)
Charities have called for preventative measures such as minimum pricing to be introduced.
Dr Richard Piper, the chief executive of Alcohol Change UK, said: “The health harms caused by alcohol are affecting tens of thousands of people every year and the heart-breaking thing is that this is totally avoidable.
“That’s why it’s so important to put preventive measures in place to stop the harm before it happens.”
(Image: Getty Images)
The WHO report only captures drinking behaviours until 2019, with experts warning the post pandemic figures will be much worse.
Official figures showed there was a 33% increase in deaths from alcohol, with 10,048 people dying from alcohol-specific causes in 2022. That’s the highest annual total since records began in 2001, and is a sharp increase from the pre-pandemic figures.
To stay up to date with all the latest news, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.