Europeans are the world's top consumers of alcohol in the world.

Heavy drinking is part of the culture of Northern Europeans in particular.

In the 25-member EU, 90 percent of 15- and 16-year-old students have consumed alcohol at some point in their lives, a rate far higher than in the United States, according to the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs. On average, they begin to drink at 12½ and get drunk for the first time at 14. Among 15-year-old Danes, 50 percent of the boys and 37 percent of the girls drink every week, according to a study by the University of Copenhagen.

In countries such as Ireland, the UK and Denmark, what is termed "binge" drinking is common. This refers to reserving drinking alcohol for a few days a week - usually from Thursday and then consuming 4 or more liters of beer or 7 pints of beer in an evening. The intention of some younger drinkers is actually to get drunk/merry when heading out on an evening to drink. 

Ireland's per capita litre consumption has increased from 7.0 in 1970 to 14.5 in 2001 according to the World Health Organization and 13.5 in 2004. This compares with 20.4 in France in 1970 down to 13.0 in 2004.

A report published on Nov 01, 2007, shows that alcohol consumption in the Irish population has increased by 17% over the past 11 years, from 11.5 litres per adult in 1995 to 13.4 litres in 2006. This rise in consumption has led to increases in alcohol-related harm and disease, and has resulted in more than 1,775 deaths. This, in turn, has created escalating pressures on our health and hospital services. These figures are reported in a comprehensive new overview of the health-related consequences of problem alcohol use published today by the Health Research Board (HRB).

The report provides strong evidence of the impact of alcohol-related illness on hospital services, according to Dr Deirdre Mongan, Research Officer at the HRB and lead author of the report. The number of people discharged from hospital with alcohol-related problems or injuries increased by almost 90% in the ten years between 1995 and 2004. In 2004, people with alcohol-related illness used 117,373 bed days in hospital – more than double the figure of 55,805 bed days in 1995.