News

AFS comment on ONS Alcohol Specific Deaths statistics

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today (Wednesday 5^th February) published their latest figures for alcohol specific deaths in the UK.

Overall, in 2023, there were 10,473 deaths from alcohol specific causes in the UK, a rate of 15.9 per 100,000 people. This represents another record high of deaths in the UK.

In Scotland alone, there were 1,277 alcohol-specific deaths compared to 1,276 in 2022 – a 15 year high. When comparing the figures to those released in 2019 there has been a staggering increase of 25%.

Scotland continues to have the highest rate of alcohol deaths in the UK (22.6 per 100,000 people), however these figures show that the gap is narrowing as the increase in deaths since the pandemic has been steeper in England than Scotland; likely due to the protective effect of minimum unit pricing in Scotland.

Whilst minimum unit pricing has helped to reduce alcohol related health inequalities between the most and least deprived communities, alcohol-specific deaths were still 4.5 times as high in the most deprived areas of Scotland compared to the least deprived areas in 2023.

Commenting on the figures, Laura Mahon, Deputy CEO of Alcohol Focus Scotland said:

“These latest alcohol death figures add to an appalling series of announcements over the past few years, which have been worsening since the Covid-19 pandemic, demonstrating that Scotland and the rest of the UK is firmly in the grip of an alcohol health emergency.

“The truth is that a majority of these deaths, mostly caused by liver disease, come as a result of people drinking heavily over the course of many years – with one in five Scots drinking at a level which could be harmful to their health, including increasing their risk of liver disease and cancer. Unfortunately, the Covid pandemic exacerbated drinking patterns and we saw those who were already drinking heavily increase their consumption.

“Alcohol remains at the centre of cultural and social life in Scotland, a position which the alcohol industry works hard to maintain by spending huge amounts of money on advertising and sponsorship to normalise drinking and influence our consumption habits.

“The industry seeks to keep people in the dark about the health harms of alcohol by failing to provide us with the clear information we need to be able to make informed choices about our health.

“But we don’t have to go on accepting the status quo. The Scottish and UK Government’s have the power to legislate to shield the public, especially children, young people and other vulnerable groups from corporate influence by restricting advertising; empower people to make informed decisions on their health by forcing the industry to provide us with clear health information on alcohol products; and challenge the central position of alcohol in our lives by reducing it’s availability.

“For those experiencing the most serious alcohol problems, we need to see greater and faster access to the treatment and support they need.

“That’s why we’ve been joining partners again recently in calling for the Scottish Government to bring forward a comprehensive and credible plan that will genuinely tackle Scotland’s ongoing alcohol emergency.”