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It is widely recognized that alcohol misuse is a major health problem worldwide. The world’s highest alcohol consumption levels are found in the developed world.
There is major regional variation, and in Russia, alcohol misuse is responsible for 52% of all deaths at ages 15—54 years. In the UK, 90-100% of heavy drinkers have alcoholic fatty liver disease, and death rates linked to alcoholic liver disease have risen by more than two-thirds (69%) in the past 30 years.
In its “Global status report on alcohol and health” 2011, the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that the harmful use of alcohol results in approximately 2.5 million deaths each year, equal to almost 4% of all deaths worldwide. The WHO also estimates that almost half of all cases of liver cirrhosis are currently due to alcohol misuse.