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Croatia among top five European countries in terms of daily alcohol consumption

Croatia among top five European countries in terms of daily alcohol consumption

ZAGREB, 19 March (Hina) – Alcohol abuse is an increasingly big problem in Croatia, which is among the top five European countries in terms of daily alcohol consumption, and another concerning fact is the number of young people who consume alcohol, a round table heard in Zagreb on Tuesday.

According to the 2019 European Health Interview Survey, Croatia is among the first five countries in terms of daily alcohol consumption, with prevalence of more than 10%, the other four countries being France, Bulgaria, Spain and Portugal.

The data are worrying because alcoholism is not only a personal problem but has broader repercussions for families, health systems and society in general, it was said at the round table, organized by the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ).

Alcohol abuse is among the main risk factors for the evolution of disease, disability and death, and has serious health consequences, including liver and heart disease, mental disorders and injuries.

Alcohol consumption among young people

According to some indicators from the 2022 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey, girls have for the first time overtaken boys since 2002.

The survey shows that 41.5% of boys and as many as 45% of girls aged 13 and 66%В of boys and as many as 71% of girls aged 15 have drunk alcohol at least once in their life.

As for the age group 11, more boys than girls had very early contact with alcohol, 23% of boys as against 15% of girls, but in the age group 15 girls also overtook boys in getting drunk, with 43% of girls having got drunk at least once in their life as against 42.5% of boys.

Some of the preventive measures include information campaigns for young people as well as the general population, education and raising awareness of the consequences of excessive alcohol consumption.

Participants in the round table concluded that it was necessary for schools to hire psychologists so that the system could deal better with the problem of alcohol consumption as well as conduct mental health risk screening, which is done by school medicine specialists as part of medical checkups in the last year of primary school and the first year of secondary school.