Alcohol abuse: Can the UK learn how to drink responsibly from Amsterdam?
A 2014 World Health Organisation report showed that Britain was among the worst countries in the world for binge drinking.
The research placed the UK in the top 13 countries for excessive drinking, with the average Brit over the age of 15 drinking 11.6 litres of pure alcohol a year, compared to 9.9 litres for the Dutch.
Amsterdam often tops the rankings as best party capital in Europe but, contrary to London, it seems to have found a way to curb binge drinking – referred locally as "coma drinking".
Binge drinking is defined by the UK government as absorbing double the safe daily limit of alcohol intake – eight units for men, akin to four pints of beer, and six for women, equivalent to just two large glasses of wine.
IBTimes UK went to Amsterdam to investigate what the Dutch are doing differently to curb heavy drinking and met up with the capital's night mayor, Mirik Milan, who has been taking steps to change behavioural patterns in his city.
- Elsa Buchanan travelled to Amsterdam courtesy of Heineken as part of the company's Responsible Cities & Consumption programme.
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