Alcoholism Statistics
Alcohol consumption is rampant throughout the U.S. and Canada.
One in four teenagers admit to drinking alcohol before their sixteenth birthday. Forty percent of those throughout the U.S. and Canada admit to drinking more than ten drinks within a period of time ranging from six months to a year from the age of 18 on. As for alcoholism itself? Approximately four percent of the population in both countries.
Alcoholism is expensive in regards to health care and treatment. The U.S. spent approximately 220 billion dollars in 2005 related to alcoholism. Alcoholism does not discriminate according to age, gender, or ethnic group.
* Anyone at any age can become an alcoholic.
Older people who find themselves living alone or suffering from the Empty Nest Syndrome can turn to alcohol. They feel like they have lost something and use alcohol to fill the void left by having their children go out and spread their wings.
People who never married or who live with their partner without being married can find themselves more likely to suffer from alcoholism than someone who is happily married. They may tell themselves they do not want to be tied down to a marital commitment when in actuality, they feel something is missing and use alcohol to replace it.
Teenagers and young people can find themselves in the circle of alcoholism. Over a quarter of those who consume alcohol as teenagers end up with a problem with alcoholism and find themselves consuming nearly half (47%) of the alcohol consumed by young people today.
One in four children in the U.S. are in families that deal with alcoholism.
One in four children in the U.S. are in families that deal with alcoholism. This can cause up to forty percent of those same children to become later alcoholics themselves.
Half of those in the prison system were influenced in some way by alcoholic. Whether they committed a crime of robbery, driving while intoxicated, assault or murder while drunk, half stem from alcohol being directly or indirectly related to the crime they are serving time for.
Roughly 50,000 people are seen for alcohol poisoning in the U.S. in any given year, and sadly, at least one person dies per week as a direct result of alcohol poisoning and/or binge drinking. This was a little bit higher before campuses stepped in and handed down harsh penalties for how Pledge Week is handled with sororities and fraternities.
Alcohol is one of the most prevalent reasons a person seeks addiction treatment, being even higher statistically than heroin in those who seek help in drug rehabilitation situations. Those who suffer from medical problems such as esophageal cancer, cirrhosis of the liver and many other stomach or liver problems have a higher statistic of having their conditions caused by alcohol, making it the indirect cause of a lot more deaths than some people realize.
Statistically, alcoholism is real and is not going away. People are more aware of this every day and programs are in place to help with that. If you or a loved one has a problem with alcoholism, help is available. This can have a victorious outcome.
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