Irish ranked world’s biggest spenders on alcohol

IRISH people spend more on drink than any other country in the world and are also among the heaviest smokers and sufferers of heart attacks.

Our marriage rate is also the lowest in the world, behind countries such as Rwanda, Qatar and Armenia, according to The Economist Pocket World in Figures published today.

The survey of 177 countries shows Irish people spend around €1,200 each on drink every year. This figure is 48% more than the second highest country, Britain, which spends 784 per person on drink.

It is also more than France, Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands combined.

While Irish people are spending the equivalent of €23 for every man, woman and child in the pub every week, they are also smoking an average of almost five cigarettes per day.

This is the third-highest rate in the EU. The heaviest smokers in the world are fellow EU members, the Greeks, who puff their way through 8.6 cigarettes a day.

The high smoking and drinking rates mean that Ireland has the fourth-highest rate of heart attacks in the world, after Finland, Sweden and Norway.

Last night, the Drinks Industry Group defended Ireland’s position as the highest spenders in the world on alcohol.

“Tax accounts for a very high proportion of the spend on alcohol in Ireland and that could account for the difference. We’re not hugely out of kilter with the rest of society,” said spokesman Pat Barry.

But the Labour Party said this was “head in the sand stuff” and described The Economist figures as “staggering”.

“It shows we are totally beyond the normal practices of other countries and that we are building up serious problems for ourselves. The smoking ban will have to go ahead and there has to be a clear strategy for dealing with alcohol,” said health spokeswoman Liz McManus.

More positive statistics in The Economist survey point out that Ireland has the tenth-highest gross domestic product per head, at 23,400 each, and the 16th-highest quality of life.

We have the fourth-fastest growing economy in the world since 1991 and rank 19th in terms of aid donation, giving €287 million in 2000.

More than 99 out of 100 households have a colour TV, and music sales at 28 per person are the seventh-highest in the world.

The Economist also reveals that the US has the highest prison population in the world with more than two million people locked up. North Korea has the fourth-largest army in the world while the most dangerous place to drive is Malawi, which has 2,730 road accidents per 100m kilometers.