08 May Are UK Men drinking themselves to death?
The difference in alcohol related deaths between men and women has been on a steady increase from 2006 – 2016.
With the total number of deaths being 8,758 in 2006: 2,990 being women and 5,768 men there is an immense difference between men and women. The difference is considerably larger in 2016 with the total being 9,214 and the amount of women being 3,144 and men totalling at 6,070.
I was able to speak to Ruth who has interestingly lost only men in her family due to alcohol. This is what she had to say:
“I have lost my grandfather, father and brother all in part due to abuse of alcohol. It’s interesting to note that only one aunt has had issues related to alcohol. I grew up knowing the horrendous effects of alcohol and have avoided its over use, whereas my brother has been unable to resist as effectively. Social drinking and the local pub were a big part of our lives but after my mother died my father used alcohol as a method of “coping” with his grief.”
There are many reasons for the increasing difference in fatalities in the UK, for example, growth in population and cultural changes in drinking habits. The reasons for the rate of alcohol related mortality in men being higher than women is also very interesting. In the UK population the number of women is slightly higher than men yet more men are dying.
The most likely reason for increase in deaths is the shift in drinking habits over the years. According to Drinkaware the amount of people binge drinking regularly is on the rise. This is a much more harmful method of drinking and has very negative effects on our bodies both mentally and physically. It affects the body immediately by raising your blood alcohol concentration levels more rapidly. It can also have long term affects on the body such as loss of memory.
After researching the growth in population in the UK it’s clear that the overall population is definitely on the rise. However, looking deeper into the data it shows that the amount of deaths per 100,000 has decreased meaning that alcohol related deaths, as a whole, has decreased over time. There are many reasons why this could be. After further research it seems that generally women are more ‘health conscious’ than men. So a result of that could be mean that women drink less and so don’t die as much from alcohol as men.
Taking a closer look at the original data there is a steady increase of alcohol related deaths throughout the years, except in 2009 there was a small spike in the total deaths. After researching big events that occurred during 2009 that may have had an impact on the amount of people dying from alcohol, it happened to be around the time of the recession in the UK and so unemployment was high and spirits were low. Although this isn’t a direct correlation it could definitely be argued that there is a connection here as stress drinking is very common in the UK according to Drinkaware.
