Calls for UK government to tackle alcohol-related deaths in older people

Health experts are demanding tough action to tackle the record number of older people dying because of heavy drinking, amid a historic shift away from alcohol by younger generations.

The UK is undergoing a major generational shift in its drinking habits, with many over-55s consuming dangerous amounts at the same time as under-35s embrace teetotal lifestyles.

Many older people who began drinking more heavily when Covid struck in 2020 have continued doing so, while those under 55 have reverted to pre-pandemic consumption levels.

Britain’s relationship with alcohol is back in the spotlight after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed on Thursday that alcohol-related deaths had hit a record high of 10,473 in 2023.

However, alcohol experts claim the real death toll is three times higher, once deaths from diseases closely associated with drinking, including heart disease and many cancers, are included. The definition of fatalities “wholly attributable” to alcohol disguised the grim truth, theONS said.

There were 8,276 deaths in England in 2023 as a direct result of drinking, which the ONS calls “alcohol-specific deaths”. However, data from the government’s Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) shows that another 22,644 deaths partly involved alcohol, giving a total of 30,920 fatalities, according to Ash Singleton, the director of research and public affairs at Alcohol Change UK.

The 30,920 total represented a sharp rise on the 25,349 such deaths in 2019, before the Covid pandemic led to a surge in problematic drinking, said Singleton.

Colin Angus, a professor of alcohol studies at the University of Sheffield, described the surge in drink-related deaths in recent years as “shocking”. However, he said the situation was “considerably worse” than it seemed, with the ONS figures hugely underestimating the extent of drink-related deaths.

Other OHID data published in December showed that more people are dying prematurely – before they turn 75 – of alcohol-related liver disease. The number of these premature deaths in England has increased by 93% since 2001, and reached 5,984 in 2023. Sunderland was found to have the highest rate, and Barnet in London the lowest.

The stark difference in drinking behaviour between the generations is highlighted by the fact that the number of people in their 50s and 60s in England diagnosed with alcohol-related liver disease rose by 73% and 101% respectively in the decade between 2014-15 and 2023-24. But numbers rose far less sharply – between 14% and 31% – among those aged 18 to 49, NHS England figures show.

Singleton said: “On the one hand, younger groups are drinking less or nothing, and are driving the boom in no-and-low alcoholic drinks, sales of which are by far the highest in London.

“On the other, we have older people, particularly in more deprived areas like the north-east, increasingly drinking much more, which is borne out by these tragic [ONS] figures.”

There are growing calls for England to follow Scotland’s example and bring in a minimum unit price of alcohol (MUP) as part of a package of measures to reduce drinking-related harm. Experts say the policy, which Scotland introduced in 2018 despite opposition from the drinks industry, has cut harmful drinking and helps to explain why alcohol-specific deaths have plateaued in Scotland while they have continued to rise in England. Wales also brought in a MUP in 2020.

The Scottish government has raised the MUP by 30% – from 50p to 65p a unit – over recent years in response to high inflation. It means that wine, beer and spirits have to be sold at minimum prices, which in turn limits consumption.

“The increase in alcohol-specific deaths in the UK is mainly driven by a sharp rise in England, which accounted for 86% of the additional deaths in 2023 [compared to 2022],” said Dr Katherine Severi, the chief executive of the Institute of Alcohol Studies. “A key difference between the two countries is the political effort put into tackling alcohol harm in recent years.

“Alcohol has become much more affordable in real terms in recent years, due to successful lobbying by alcohol trade associations for tax breaks. This has led directly to more people drinking at higher levels, which has contributed to increased deaths.”

Cheap high-strength ciders, supermarket own-brand spirits and wines that have a high alcohol content illustrated the growing affordability of drink and were contributing to health harm, said Singleton.

“Consumers in Scotland and Wales are protected from these dangerous drinks because those countries have introduced minimum unit pricing, but people in England are currently without that protection, so we need our government to step up and introduce this in England,” he said.

The Department of Health and Social Care was approached for comment.