Up to 1 in 10 Czechs over 15 years old drink excessive amounts of alcohol every day, according to the annual report on alcohol consumption in the Czech Republic for 2024, which was released yesterday. Almost 900,000 people drink several pints of beer, glasses of wine or glasses of spirits daily.
The report was presented yesterday at a press conference by Pavla Chomynova, head of the National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addictions.
Experts have estimated the economic impact of alcohol addiction at around CZK 80 billion a year, approximately 1% of GDP. Some 31,000 people were treated for alcohol-related conditions in 2023, and alcohol is behind 6% of deaths in the country. About 275,000 people combine drinking with other psychoactive drugs. Around 1.4 million people use sedatives, hypnotics or opioid analgesics.
Alcohol consumption habits are divided into four categories based on consumption and risk level: harmful with health damage, hazardous with health risk, moderate, and abstinent. One alcoholic drink contains 16-20 grams of ethanol. Daily consumption of more than 60 grams is harmful for men and more than 40 grams for women. For men, this is equivalent to 3-5 pints of beer, two-decilitre glasses of wine or short drinks, for women from 1.5-3 drinks. A daily consumption of 40-60 grams for men or 20-40 grams for women is risky.
From 6-10% of people over 15 (between 600,000 and 900,000 people) drink alcohol to a harmful degree, and from 15-18% (1.3 to 1.6 million) drink alcohol in a hazardous way. Up to 13% of adults drink excessively at least once a week – up to 21% of men and up to 7% of women.
According to the report, Czech society is tolerant towards alcohol. For 3 in 10 respondents, regular drinking is acceptable. “The very high availability of alcohol” also plays a role, according to the authors.
Almost a quarter of 15-year-olds, 5% of 13-year-olds and less than 1% of 11-year-olds have been drunk repeatedly. Three-fifths of young people aged between 15 and 19 have drunk in the last month and 4% daily or almost daily. According to the report, studies confirm that girls are beginning to match boys in drinking.
Alcohol takes the lives of 6,000-7,000 people a year, around 6% of deaths. Liver disease or overdoses are the main cause for 2,000-3,000 people. Between 13,000 and 14,000 people a year end up in hospitals because of illnesses ‘wholly attributable to alcohol’. According to experts, the economic cost to the country is around CZK 80 billion.
According to experts, about 275,000 people combine drinking with other psychoactive drugs. 12-15% of people over 15 (1.1 to 1.4 million people) use sedatives, hypnotics or opioid analgesics for more than six weeks without a prescription or against medical advice. The report says that women are twice as likely to use these, with the rates increasing with age. Some people use the medication to replace or supplement other drugs. The availability of psychoactive drugs is high in the Czech Republic, and people can obtain prescriptions from a doctor. If they do not get a prescription, they obtain the pills from family and friends, on the Internet, or on the black market, according to the report.
