ACS

The Scottish Government has released new statistics on national alcohol consumption. The figures have been recalucated from the 2003 Scottish Health Survey to reflect the increasing strength of alcoholic drinks. The figures show that 34 percent of men consume more than their recommended weekly limit of 21 units, with 23 percent of women drinking more than their recommended 14 units per week.

The statistics also show that 63 percent of men drank more than the recommended four units on their heaviest drinking day in the week prior to being surveyed, while 64 percent of women drank more than their recommended three units.

These figures for men and women are up from 27 percent and 14 percent respectively under the old calculations. The effect of the revisions of the 2003 findings is greater for women than men, mainly due to the fact that the change in unit conversion factors has had a greater impact on wine than on other types of drink and women are more likely to be wine drinkers.