Aggregate measures such as APC only give population averages. In order to better understand alcohol consumption, we need to combine this information with other information on who drinks and in what pattern. Information about former drinkers provides a useful distinction between drinkers and abstainers, but also helps differentiate those who never consumed alcohol from those who did but decided to stop. This is of public health relevance as people often stop drinking for medical reasons.

Former drinkers is defined as the proportion of adults (15+ years) in a given population who did not consume alcohol in the last 12 months, but who did previously do that, assessed at any given point in time. Numerator: The number of former drinkers (15+ years) Denominator: The total number of participants (15+ years) responding to the corresponding question in a given survey. Weighted by survey design.

Sex, Age

A representative sample of the adult population (15+ years) of the country is asked to answer questions in a survey. The first priority in the decision tree is given to international surveys (in this order of preference: WHS, STEPS, GENACIS); second is national surveys.

Statistical analyses based on surveys, weighted to be representative for the population.

Average of countries with representative data weighted by the respective populations.

Every 3-5 years

Every 3-5 years

Preferred data sources: Population-based surveys representative for a country; if possible as part of internationally comparative surveys.

msb@who.int

NMH/MSD/MSB