Leadership To Keep Children Alcohol Free

SOCIETY

The following statistics demonstrate the impact of alcohol abuse on society. References appear at the end of the section.

Because we are constantly updating our web pages to incorporate the most recent statistics, there may be some differences between the statistics in this Web site and those in our published documents. Please note that the Web site statistics are always our most current.

For additional information, see Information For You, Concerned Citizens and Statistics, The Community.

Alcohol is the leading contributor to the leading causes of death among young people in the United States.^1,2

In 2002, about 18 million adults in the US met diagnostic criteria for alcohol disorders.³
More than one-half of American adults have a close family member who is an alcoholic or has abused alcohol.⁴
Research was conducted in 1998 to determine the total cost attributable to the consequences of underage drinking. The cost was more than $58 billion per year, based on year 2000 dollars.⁵
In 1998, the estimated productivity loss for workers with past or current alcoholism was $86.4 billion. Productivity losses were greatest for males who initiated drinking before age 15.⁶
In a survey of 18- to 24-year-old current drinkers who failed to complete high school, nearly 60% had begun to drink before age 16.⁷
Long-term heavy alcohol use is the leading cause of illness and death from liver disease in the U.S.⁸
Alcohol is implicated in more than 100,000 deaths annually.⁹
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that the laws specifying 21 as the minimum drinking age have saved 25,509 lives since the mid-1970s.¹⁰

References

¹ Hingson R, Kenkel D. 2004. Social, health and economic consequences of underage drinking. In: Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility, Background papers [CD-ROM]. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 351-382.

² Hingson R, Heeren T, Jamanka A, et al. 2000. Age of drinking onset and unintentional injury involvement after drinking. Journal of American Medical Association 284(12): 1527-1533.

³ Grant B, Dawson D, Stinson F, et al. 2004. The 12-Month Prevalence and Trends in DSM-IV Alcohol Abuse and Dependence: United States, 1991-1992 and 2001-2002. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 74(3):223:234.

⁴Dawson DA, Grant BF. 1998. Family history of alcoholism and gender: Their combined effects on DSM-IV alcohol dependence and major depression. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 59(1):97-106.

⁵ Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. Costs of Underage Drinking, prepared September 5, 2002.

⁶Harwood H. 2000. Updating Estimates of the Economic Costs of Alcohol Abuse in the United States: Estimates, Update Methods and Data. Report prepared by The Lewin Group for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Based on estimates, analyses, and data reported in Harwood H, Fountain D, Livermore G. 1998. The Economic Costs of Alcohol and Drug Abuse in the United States 1992. Report prepared for the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services. NIH Publication No. 98-4327. Rockville, MD: National Institutes of Health. Report available at http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/economic-2000/index.htm.

⁷ National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. 1998. Drinking in the United States: Main Findings from the 1992 National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey (NLAES). US Alcohol Epidemiologic Data Reference Manual, Volume 6. Rockville, MD: NIAAA.

⁸National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. 2000. 10th Special Report to the US Congress on Alcohol and Health. Rockville, MD: NIAAA.

⁹McGinnis JM, Foege WH. 1993. Actual causes of death in the United States. Journal of the American Medical Association 270(18):2207-2212.

¹⁰ National Highway Safety Traffic Association (NHTSA). 2007. Traffic Safety Facts 2006—Young Drivers. DOT HS Report No. 810 817. Washington, DC: NHTSA National Center for Statistics and Analysis.

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