Cypriot men rank 36th in global alcohol consumption, women 92nd

Cypriot men drink an average of four alcoholic drinks a day, ranking them the 36th heaviest drinkers in the world according to a global alcohol league table published in the Daily Mail and based on a study in the Lancet.

Cypriot woman drank far less — they averaged 1.1 alcoholic drinks a day, ranking them 92nd.

According to the same survey British women were ranked among the heaviest female drinkers in the world with three standard drinks, which put them in eighth place for alcohol consumption, just behind Irish women. Ukrainian women came in first, with more than four drinks a day.

British men, meanwhile, came 62nd in the male category, drinking a similar amount to British women.

The findings, published in the Lancet, were part of the most comprehensive global study on alcohol to date.

The researchers said there is ‘no safe level’ for drinking – and that even one drink a day increases risk of ill health– a claim that was rejected by other experts, according to the Daily Mail.

David Spiegelhalter, professor for the public understanding of risk at the University of Cambridge, said: ‘Claiming there is no ‘safe’ level does not seem an argument for abstention. There is no safe level of driving, but the Government do not recommend that people avoid driving. Come to think of it, there is no safe level of living, but nobody would recommend abstention.”

Professor Spiegelhalter said the impact was so low that it would take 25,000 people drinking 400,000 bottles of gin before a single extra health problem emerged.

‘Presumably people who choose to drink alcohol moderately get some pleasure from it, and any risk needs to be traded off against this enjoyment,’ he said.

The 10 countries with the heaviest drinking men are: Romania (8.2), Portugal (7.3), Luxembourg (7.3), Lithuania (7), Ukraine (7), Bosnia & Herzegovina (6.5), Belarus (6), Estonia (6) , Spain (5.8) and Hungary (5.5).

The 10 countries with the heaviest drinking women are:  Ukraine (4.2), Andorra (3.4) , Luxembourg (3.4), Belarus (3.4) , Sweden (3.2) , Denmark (3.2), Ireland (3.1), United Kingdom (3) , Germany (2.9) and Switzerland (2.8).