200,000 Austrians consume alcohol excessively: survey

Alcoholism is the most common form of addiction in Austria with about 200,000 Austrians consuming excessive amounts, a new survey from market research institute GfK revealed Friday.

Rudolf Bretschneider from GfK Austria said the survey results show alcoholism has a central place in Austrian society. Of the 4,000 people aged 15 and over who took the survey, only one in 10 said they had not consumed alcohol in the past year.

In addition, 39 percent of men and 15 percent of women admitted to drinking two to three times a week or more, and only one in three said they only drank alcohol once a month. Almost half of the survey respondents also said there were other people they knew who drank too much.

And 6 percent of men and 1 percent of the women who admitted to drinking alcohol several times a week during the past year said they drunk six or more glasses each time, meaning 200,000 Austrians overall fit into the category of "binge drinkers," the survey conductors said.

The figures are also to be presented at the 5th Interdisciplinary Symposium on Addiction in Grundlsee in the state of Styria at the weekend.

The symposium organiser and psychiatry and psychotherapy specialist from the Medical University of Vienna Gabriele Fischer said compared to the scale of alcoholism in Austria, other well-known addictions such as drug addictions and gambling play a lesser role in society.

According to OECD figures, Austrians drink 12.2 litres of alcohol per person person year, which is 1.1 litres more than the EU average. This puts it third-highest in the EU, behind only Lithuania (12.7 litres) and Estonia (12.3 litres) in terms of per-capita consumption. Enditem