Eurostat Finds Those Older Than 75 Drink Beer Daily, Beat Youths

Youths might have a reputation of drinking too much too often, but in fact seniors drink the most on a daily basis, EU statistical office Eurostat said, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

Photo Insert: A significantly greater percentage of seniors apparently drink on a daily basis vs youths

Of those older than 75 years, 16 percent consumed alcohol daily, Eurostat found, compared to just 1 percent among 15 to 24-year-olds. The average lies at 8.4 percent, Eurostat said based on data from 2019.

But drinking rates differ immensely across the bloc: In Portugal, one in five adults drinks daily, according to Eurostat. In Latvia and Lithuania, only 1 percent of adults do so.

Danes, however, are the heaviest drinkers in the EU: About 40 percent of the Danish population drinks excessively more than once a month. Eurostat defines heavy drinking as the consumption of 60 grams pure ethanol, or at least five standard beers.

By contrast, only 4 percent of people in Italy and Cyprus reported doing so.

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