Experienced alcohol-related harms

1,200,000 Finns have experienced negative consequences of drinking

According to the drinking habits survey, a total of 1,200,000 Finns have experienced negative drinking consequences, such as rows, fights or accidents, during the previous year. If we deduct from this number the most common, and relatively light, consequence of ‘regrettable words or actions’, the number having experienced at least one negative drinking consequence still remains at close to 900,000. 

Acute alcohol-related problems, such as accidental deaths, have decreased as overall consumption and drunkenness have decreased. The share of chronic problems has increased over both the period surveyed and over the longer term: 27% of alcohol-related deaths in 1987 resulted from chronic illnesses, while the equivalent figure for 2016 was 64%.

Alcohol consumption causes various social and health hazards. Some 270,000 Finnish respondents in the Drinking habits survey reported having experienced problems related to their alcohol consumption in some area of life, for instance, health or financial problems, or problems with family or working life or other social life.

Experiencing more moderate and serious problems caused by other people’s alcohol use is more common than experiencing problems caused by your own alcohol use. In total, 2,600,000 respondents from the Drinking habits survey reported that they had experienced harm because of the alcohol consumption of others. For example, 1,300,000 had been afraid of and 700,000 harassed by an intoxicated person.

Young people still experience a lot of harm caused by drunkenness 

Drinking by minors decreased significantly throughout the 2000s. Nevertheless, it is young, under-30-year-olds for whom drunkenness episodes as a proportion of total alcohol consumption episodes is at its highest, and this age group also experience the most negative drinking consequences. 

Over half of 15–29-year-olds (46%) had experienced negative drinking consequences, while the equivalent figure for 30–59-year-olds was 21% and for 60–79-year-olds just 6%.