<![CDATA[ Jovens portugueses começam a beber mais cedo e com mais situações de embriaguez severa ]]>

The age at which young Portuguese people start drinking alcohol worsened in 2023, as did situations of severe drunkenness, high-risk consumption and dependence, according to a report released this Wednesday, 26th.

The data are included in the annual report on the country's situation regarding drugs and drug addiction and alcohol for the year 2023, by the Institute for Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies (ICAD), which is being presented today to the Assembly of the Republic. According to the document, which analyses data from 2022 and 2023, "there were worsenings in the age at which consumption began, the prevalence of recent and current consumption, severe drunkenness and high-risk/harmful consumption and dependence", which reinforces "the trend of increasing dependence since 2012, which has almost quadrupled in ten years". The ICAD states that with regard to alcohol, and despite an increase in abstinence compared to 2017, there were no improvements in most indicators. The figures show that among 18-year-olds there was "a decrease in recent and current consumption in 2023" (data relating to the year and last consumption are usually taken into account), although the figures for severe drunkenness in the last two years (2022 and 2023) were the highest since 2015, the document highlights. The report also highlights that the experience of problems related to alcohol consumption has, in the last three years, "a significant increase" compared to the pre-pandemic years, with a worsening among women. According to the document, the number of people who started treatment for problems related to alcohol use reached the highest values ​​in the last decade in the last two years. According to the data, in 2023, there was a decrease in deaths from alcohol poisoning, in fatalities in road accidents under the influence of this substance and in hospital admissions with a primary diagnosis attributable to alcohol intake, but the number of hospital admissions with a secondary diagnosis of consumption increased. Regarding the volume of sales of alcoholic beverages, the report shows that, after declines in 2020, there was a subsequent recovery, with the values ​​for 2022 and 2023 already exceeding pre-pandemic levels in almost all alcoholic beverage segments. Citing data from the Tax Authority, ICAD states that in 2023, around 612.5 million liters of beer, 42.0 million liters of other fermented beverages, 17.3 million intermediate products and 10.0 million liters of spirits were sold in mainland Portugal.

The annual report on the country's situation regarding drugs and drug and alcohol addiction aims to raise awareness of the consumption situation in the country and to assess and monitor progress towards the targets defined in the National Plan for the Reduction of Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies 2021-2030, with a focus on health in all policies.

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