According to the latest report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Health at a Glance 2023, carried out with data from 2021, Spain is among the first in alcohol consumption, with 11 liters per person, analyzing the data in people over 15 years of age.
While the OECD average is 8.6 liters, the only countries that consume more than Spain are Latvia and Lithuania, with 12 liters per person.
Despite the astonishing data, the proportion of adults who have experienced episodes of excessive alcohol consumption, commonly known as "drunkenness", Spain is at 10 percent, being one of the last countries in the ranking and being below the OECD average, which stands at almost one in five adults with compulsive consumption (19%) and who have experienced it at least once.
This proportion varies greatly between countries, from less than three percent of excessive consumption in Turkey to more than 30 percent of adults in Germany, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and Denmark.
Likewise, the data shows that, in all countries, men consume more alcohol than women since, on average, 26 percent of men report drinking excessively once a month compared to 12 percent reported by women. .
Although infectious diseases were the leading cause of preventable mortality in 2021, responsible for 22 percent of all preventable deaths, 13 percent of preventable deaths in 2021 are due to alcohol and drug use. Some cancers preventable by public health measures are also among the leading causes of preventable mortality in 2021. Other important causes were injuries, such as traffic accidents and suicide (17%); myocardial infarction, stroke and other circulatory diseases (16%); and some respiratory diseases such as flu and COPD (6%).
Spain is in the top three for cocaine consumption, a podium it shares with Australia, with more than a staggering four percent, and the United Kingdom. The report shows, with data from 2020, that cocaine is one of the most widely consumed illicit stimulant drugs since, on average, in the 36 OECD countries, 1.2% of adults report having used cocaine.
Along with the three mentioned, the highest rates of cocaine consumption belong to Australia with more than four percent, followed by the United Kingdom, Spain, Canada, the United States and Austria with more than two percent. Likewise, at the bottom, consumption rates ranged from 0.2% or less in Israel, Portugal, Turkey and the Czech Republic. As in the alcohol study, and during the last twelve months, men are more likely to use cocaine (1.7%) than women (0.7%) in all countries except Israel.
According to 2021 data in Spain, 20 percent of the population over 15 years of age smokes daily, exceeding the OECD average, which is 16 percent. The most smoking country is Turkey with 28 percent and France with 25 percent of smokers. Likewise, men smoke more than women in all countries except Norway, since on the OECD average, 19.9 percent of men smoke daily compared to 12.3 percent of women smokers in 2021.
However, although data shows a reduction in tobacco consumption between 2016 and 2021, an increase in vaping has been experienced in two-thirds of OECD countries, with it being most common among young people at 6.1 percent in compared to 3.2 percent consumption in the adult population.
The highest vaping rates have been recorded in Estonia and New Zealand, at more than eight percent, and the lowest in Sweden, Chile and Austria, below one person on average. Between 2016 and 2021, regular vaping consumption increased in 11 of the 16 OECD countries for which time trend data is available.
At the same time, regular tobacco consumption decreased in five OECD countries, with the largest reduction in Finland (4.8 percentage points). Tobacco use is more common among young people: in 2021, 6.1 percent of people between 15 and 24 years old consume regularly. Although vaping can be used to help you quit smoking, it is also associated with smoking initiation and its side effects are also not positive.
