Moldova is among the top countries by alcohol consumption per capita. According to the WHO’s global status report on alcohol and health 2014, Moldova has an annual consumption of 16.8 liters of pure alcohol per person older than 15, 10.5 liters of which is non-registered, which is it is produced at home. Alcohol consumption among the alcohol drinking population is of 25.4 liters of pure alcohol per capita a year. The data were presented by the National Public Health Center on the occasion of the National Alcohol Free Day that is celebrated on October 2, IPN reports.
According to a recent study, half of the eighth-ninth graders drank alcohol during the past 30 days. Of these, 7.7% intoxicated themselves to the state in which they could not walk steadily and speak clearly, vomited or didn’t remember want happened. About 38.7% of the students drank five or more portions of alcoholic drinks at a time during the past 30 days. Practically each second student can easily get alcoholic drinks, with cocktails being the most accessible to them. At the age of 13 or earlier, over a half of the respondents tried an alcoholic drink, with about 8% of them being in a state of alcoholic inebriation.
Specialists warn that alcohol creates dependence and causes over 200 types of diseases. The World Health Organization’s European Region has the highest alcohol consumption in the world, mainly owing to the figures in the central and eastern part of Europe. Approximately 70% of the adults in the European Region drink alcohol daily. On average, the Europeans drink 10.7 liters of pure alcohol a year per capita, as opposed to 6.2 liters globally.
Doctors note that about 40-50% of the deaths from hepatic cirrhosis are due to alcohol consumption. According to national statistics, 57.9 deaths per 100,000 people caused by hepatitis and hepatic cirrhosis were recorded in Moldova in 2016, in contrast to 60.6 in 2015. There were also recorded 3.5 deaths per 100,000 people caused by intoxication, as against 4.8 cases in 2015.
The National Alcohol Free Day is celebrated in Moldova to sensitize and warn about the risk of alcohol abuse to life and health.
