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As part of the Health information and knowledge system under the EU Public Health Programme, a series of health reports have been issued on various issues concerning public health. As part of this series, the European Commission put out a call for tender for a report on alcohol use in Europe, which was contracted to the Institute of Alcohol Studies in London. 

The findings of this report represent the view of the contractor and are not binding on the Commission.

This report is one input among many which the Commission is collating on alcohol and health, which will inform the Commission's thinking when it draws up a Communication on Alcohol and Health which is expected to be presented to the College in autumn 2006 in response to repeated requests by Health Ministers.

The other inputs include a report on economic aspects of alcohol by another consultancy (Rand), a round table process chaired by the European Policy Centre think tank bringing together industry, health groups and other stakeholders, and submissions from and extensive consultations with representatives of the alcohol industry, health groups and other interested parties. 

 

Summary of the report:

• BG (383 KB) - CZ (242 KB) - DE (180 KB) - DK (136 KB) - EN (131 KB) - ES (105 KB) - ET (112 KB) - FI (173 KB) - FR (135 KB)  - EL (549 KB) - HU (242 KB)  - IT (106 KB) - LT (385 KB) - LV (377 KB) - NL (101 KB) - NO (82 KB) - PL (223 KB) - PT (103 KB) - RO (160 KB) - SK (229 KB) - SL (307 KB) - SV (239 KB) - TR (263 KB)

Report on Alcohol in Europe:

• Summary (131 KB)

• Table of contents (56 KB)

• Chapter 1 (248 KB) : Introduction

• Chapter 2 (62 KB) : A brief history of alcohol in Europe

• Chapter 3 (428 KB) : The economic impact of alcohol

• Chapter 4 (643 KB) : The use of alcohol in Europe

• Chapter 5 (447 KB) : Alcohol and individuals

• Chapter 6 (451 KB) : Alcohol and Europe

• Chapter 7 (2 MB) : The effectiveness of alcohol policy

• Chapter 8 (479 KB) : Alcohol policy in Europe

• Chapter 9 (2 MB) : Alcohol policy in the countries of Europe

• Chapter 10 (339 KB) : Conclusions and recommendations

• Annex (77 KB) : Glossary of termsull report

 

• Download the full report (compressed version) (5 MB)

To complete the report, four stakeholder meetings were arranged which involved NGOs, the industry and representatives from national administrations. After the report had been completed, a peer review by scientific experts was undertaken with representatives nominated by both the industry and the health community. The conclusions from this meeting are annexed in the main report. 

Download the stakeholder and peer meeting reports:

• Stakeholders’ views of alcohol policy (572 KB)

• Peer review meeting (135 KB)

 The report was funded by the Public Health Programme (2003 – 2008), which is designed to reinforce EU action in the field of public health within a single and coherent framework as part of an overall public health strategy.

Further information on the Public Health Programme is available at /health/ph_information/information_en.htm