The latest figures from National Records of Scotland, (NRS) show 1,277 people died from conditions caused by alcohol in 2023. This was one death more than the previous year, which was the highest number since 2008.
• There were 1,277 alcohol-specific deaths registered in Scotland in 2023, an increase of one death from 2022. This is the highest number of alcohol specific deaths registered in a year since 2008.
• The rate of mortality for alcohol-specific deaths was 22.7 deaths per 100,000 people in 2023. This measure takes into account the size and age-structure of the population.
• Male deaths continue to account for around two thirds of alcohol-specific deaths. Over the last year, male alcohol-specific deaths increased by 25, while female deaths decreased by 24.
• The age profile of alcohol-specific deaths has become older over time, with the average age at death increasing from 56 to 60 in the last decade. In 2023, the alcohol-specific mortality rates for those aged 65 to 74, and 75+ were at their highest since the series began in 1994.
• After adjusting for age, the alcohol-specific mortality rate was higher than the Scottish average in the council areas of Inverclyde, Glasgow City, North Lanarkshire, and Dundee City.
• Alcohol-specific deaths were 4.5 times as high in the most deprived areas of Scotland compared to the least deprived areas in 2023. This compares to a ratio of 1.8 times for all causes of death. This ratio has decreased over time.
Read the full report: Alcohol-specific deaths | National Records of Scotland (nrscotland.gov.uk)
Dr Peter Rice, Chair of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP), a partnership of the medical royal colleges, commented:
“Every one of these 1,277 deaths could have been prevented. What’s more, most of these recorded deaths were caused by Alcohol Related Liver Disease, a worrying sign that other long term illnesses such as neurological damage and several cancers which are not counted in today’s figures but are alcohol related are also likely to be high.
“Scotland’s approach to reducing alcohol harm has had success in reducing alcohol deaths in the past, including with the introduction of Minimum Unit Price in 2018. However to be successful policy needs to be sustained and progressive. Lockdown due to the COVID 19 pandemic changed drinking patterns globally leading to an increase in harm and action needs to be stepped up to reverse this.
“In the face of the ongoing public health emergency that 2023’s deaths represent, we need both the Scottish Government and the UK Government to take urgent action. Firstly, the UK Government should not only maintain the real terms duty level in the autumn budget by increasing duty in line with inflation but go further by reintroducing Alastair Darling’s Alcohol Duty Escalator which increased duty by 2% more than inflation each year. When in operation under the last Labour Government the escalator led to a fall in deaths from Alcohol Related Liver Disease. We need to see similar decisive action now to reduce these deaths, and of course such a move would also raise much needed revenue for the Treasury.
“Secondly, the Scottish Government must bring forward measures to make Scotland a more positive, healthy place for children to grow up and adults to thrive, protected from alcohol marketing and cheap alcohol. This means ensuring MUP keeps pace with inflation each year so that the cheapest, most harmful alcohol does not become more affordable, and it must bring forward legislation to end alcohol brands being plastered over sports teams and competitions, and to remove it from public spaces.
Prof Ewan Forrest, a liver doctor and SHAAP Steering Group member, commented:
“As well as taking forward policies to reduce harm from alcohol, the Scottish Government needs to reconsider its approach to the provision of alcohol services across Scotland. The numbers of people accessing planned alcohol care and treatment has been declining for a decade. For some people this means receiving no help at all, for others they have costly and unplanned hospital admissions with a range of illnesses which could have been avoided.
“Now is the time for action and I urge both governments take heed of today’s figures and commit to reducing the continuing burden of alcohol harms on individuals, families and communities across Scotland.”