The Global Health Observatory

Explore a world of health data

Map
Table
Indicator name:
Alcohol, heavy episodic drinking (population) past 30 days
Short name:
HED
Data type:
Percent
Indicator Id:
459
Topic:
Risk factors
Rationale:
Heavy episodic drinking is part of the key indicators which provide information regarding the patterns of alcohol consumption in a given country. More specifically, it identifies the proportion of the population which consumes high levels of alcohol at single occasions, and consequently highlights the population which particularly has a higher risk of experiencing alcohol-related acute harm but also developing chronic health complications.
Definition:
Heavy episodic drinking is defined as the proportion of adults (15+ years) who have had at least 60 grams or more of pure alcohol on at least one occasion in the past 30 days. A consumption of 60 grams of pure alcohol corresponds approximately to 6 standard alcoholic drinks. Numerator: The (appropriately weighted) number of respondents (15+ years) who reported drinking 60 grams or more of pure alcohol on at least one occasion in the past 30 days. Denominator: The total number of participants (15+ years) responding to the corresponding question(s) in the survey plus abstainers.
Disaggregation:
Sex, Age
Method of measurement
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 internationally comparative, nationally representative surveys (in this order of preference: WHS, STEPS, GENACIS, and ECAS); second is national surveys.
Method of estimation:
Weighted percentages of survey respondents, where abstainers were coded as having 0 occasions.
These estimates are age-standardized.
Method of estimation of global and regional aggregates:
Survey estimates weighted by population size of countries.
Preferred data sources:
Population-based surveys
Expected frequency of data dissemination:
Every 3-5 years
Expected frequency of data collection:
Every 3-5 years
Comments:
Preferred data sources: Internationally comparative, nationally representative population-based surveys.
Contact person email:
msb@who.int
Name:
NMH/MSD/MSB
Links:
Global Information System on Alcohol and Health (GISAH)
Global Infobase
Indicator Metadata Registry List
If you have any feedback, you are welcome to write it here.
If you need to access the old Global Health Observatory data, you can do it here. But before you leave, please provide us your feedback about our new data portal.