Substance Abuse Resources-Some Alcohol Addiction Statistics from WHO
April 30, 2008
Alcohol is probably one of the oldest substances that humans learnt to use for recreation and consequently abuse. However, it is right to say that the greatest effects of alcohol addiction are being felt only in the present century.
In fact, in recent times there have been extensive studies conducted on the effects of alcohol and that may be one reason why these statistics seem so alarming today than they ever did before.Today, the estimates of WHO suggest that there are 76.3 million people on a worldwide scale abusing alcohol to an extent which is devastating to their health. These substance abuse addicts are consuming the substance in various degrees, including short term intoxication, continual dependence and habitual and compulsive usage.
Out of these 76.3 million people, about 20 to 30% people worldwide develop chronic health problems that are directly caused due to their alcohol usage. These diseases include the two main kinds of cancers due to alcohol – esophageal and liver, cirrhosis of the liver and epilepsy. Collectively, these diseases and a very important factor in alcohol related deaths viz. driving under influence cause about 1.8 million deaths, which is 3.2% of the total alcoholic population of the world.
People who become unable to work and live constructively due to their alcoholism lose out on the active work life they have. These lost years are termed as Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). Globally, there are about 58.3 million DALYs caused each year due to the alcohol abuse habits of people, which is about 4% of the total.
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