Alcohol deaths in the UK are at their lowest level since 2000

In 2013 there were 8,416 alcohol-related deaths registered in the UK, equivalent to 14 deaths per 100,000 people. It is the lowest rate since 2000, when 6,884 deaths or a rate of 13.1 per 100,000, the Office for National Statistics said.

But deaths linked to alcohol use among low-paid workers like cleaners and labourers are four times higher than well-paid professionals, the study showed.

There are “substantial” differences between the sexes, ages and jobs with men in “routine occupations” suffering higher death rate, it revealed.

Despite the overall fall in deaths, recent figures showed Britain still has a boozing crisis and the NHS in England dealt with nearly 10 million alcohol-related admissions in 2012-13.

Campaigners welcomed yesterday’s figures showing the fall in the death rate.

Elaine Hindal of the charity Drinkaware said: “It’s encouraging to see that alcohol related deaths are at their lowest since 2000. However it’s concerning to see the continued trend of alcohol related deaths disproportionately affecting men and those who work in more manual occupations.

“This is particularly worrying because despite those in higher managerial and professional jobs drinking more, those they employ are more likely to die from alcohol related causes. “This may be because those workers are more likely to have poorer overall health and are less likely to seek medical advice at the first sign of symptoms.”

Professor Oscar D’Agnone, an addictions specialist, called for minimum alcohol pricing to drive down the death rate even further.

He said: “With the number of deaths relating to alcohol continuing to increase, it is now more important than ever to raise awareness of the real human and financial costs of not addressing this.

“Prevention methods including education and raising awareness of alcohol dependency, along with minimum unit alcohol pricing, should be the priority. Alcohol treatment is important but only to reduce the consequences of a chain of events triggered by excessive promotion of alcohol on vulnerable people.”

Figures published by the ONS yesterday [WED] showed that two thirds of all deaths linked to alcohol were among men. 

For both sexes, death rates were highest among those aged 60-64 years where there were 45.3 deaths per 100,000 men and 22.4 per 100,000 women.

Alcohol-related death rates for men rose with age and were at their lowest for those aged 20-24 with a rate of 0.3 per 100,000 population.

For women, the lowest death rate was also among those aged 20-24 at 0.2 per 100,000.

In almost all other age groups, the alcohol-related death rate for men was roughly twice that of women. In the 90 and over category it was three times higher.

A linked study released today examined how death rates varied between people in differing jobs.

The ONS said the latest analysis showed “substantial” inequality in alcohol-related deaths among between the sexes and the pay gap.

“Those in routine occupations tended to have higher death rates and lose more potential years of working life because of alcohol-related deaths than those in more advantaged socio-economic classes,” it said.

For those in ‘routine occupations’ such as bar staff, cleaners and labourers, the death rates in 2011 were the highest with 29.5 and 12.6 deaths per 100,000 men and women respectively.

In contrast those working in higher managerial and professional occupations like doctors, lawyers and IT professionals had the lowest with 7.3 deaths per 100,000 men and 5.2 deaths per 100,000 women.

“This meant that alcohol-related death rates for those in routine occupations were four times greater for men and two times greater for women, than those in professional roles,” the ONS added.

Only two groups to have seen an increase in death rates between the last two census in 2001 and 20011. For women it was those in ‘semi-routine occupations’ which includes traffic wardens, hairdressers and security guards. 

Among men it was the ‘lower supervisory and technical occupations’ such as electricians, bakers and train drivers.