Report Says British Women Are The World's Biggest Binge Drinkers

According to a new report published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), British women make up the top spot in the list of the world's biggest female binge drinkers.

Binge drinking, also known as heavy episodic drinking, is defined as the act of consuming at least 60 grams of pure alcohol in a single sitting.

The OECD report studied 29 countries, including Turkey, the US, the UK, Mexico and Australia.

The report suggested that women in the UK are able to consume at least six drinks in one sitting, with 26 per cent of the respondents admitting to binge drinking alcohol at least once a month.

The statistics laid out in the report demonstrated that the number of women binge drinkers in the UK is double that of women in other countries. The average number of binge drinkers that identify as women in other countries, stands at 12 per cent.

British women have since expressed how they feel pressured to drink after cheap supermarket deals and offers on alcohol for "boozy brunches" have been "targeted relentlessly" towards women in recent years.

Experts also excused the results, due to the rise of women's financial independence over the years, more people have been turning to consuming large amounts of alcohol after working increasingly long hours in high-pressured jobs.

People from other countries have responded to the results, calling the drinking culture amongst women in the UK "unattractive" and "classless". The responders also noted that the UK has a "very different" attitude towards binge drinking in comparison to other countries in Europe.

A media worker from Poland, Magda Galecka, told news reporters: "People think that us Eastern Europeans drink a lot, but now we know who the real culprits are - British women."

In agreement with the experts, women across England, Scotland and Wales have said that they use alcohol to relax and "wind down" after a long day.

Women in London and Newcastle also said that alcohol gives them confidence in social settings and allows them to ignore the social pressures of raising children and having a steady career.

The UK government has since been urged to create tighter marketing restrictions by hospitality workers and charities that focus on alcohol awareness.

The organisations have also called on the government to implement a minimum unit pricing to be introduced, to prevent avoidable alcohol-related health conditions from arising in England.

The report by the OECD also highlighted the budget of countries that has to be utilised for harm caused by alcohol consumption.

While levels of anxiety and depression have improved slightly in some countries since the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 15 per cent of people in the UK are still tackling a heightened level of mental health issues, compared to pre-pandemic.

While the amount of binge-drinking women in the UK is high, nearly 45 per cent of British men admitted to the fact that they enjoy binge drinking regularly.

With the figures combined, amounting to 35 per cent, the UK stands alongside Luxembourg, as the third highest country for adults partaking in regular binge drinking sessions.

The two top spots are currently held by Denmark and Romania.

According to the OECD report, 37 per cent of adults in Denmark admitted to binge drinking on a regular basis – more than once a month.

In Romania, 36 per cent of adults said that they were binge drinkers.

The report also recognised that the countries with the lowest number of binge-drinking adults were Turkey, Greece and Italy.

In Turkey, just one per cent of women and five per cent of men admitted to being binge drinkers. Just nine per cent of adults in Italy said that they partake in heavy episodic drinking more than once a month.

In Greece, three per cent of women and nine per cent of men reported binge drinking at least 12 times each year.