Alcohol: deaths
In July 2006 the Office for National Statistics, General Register Office for Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency agreed on a harmonised definition of alcohol related deaths. This means that for the first time there is uniformity in way alcohol related deaths are reported in the UK.
It is important to note that the new selection of codes is different to that previously used by ISD. Therefore, to provide consistent trend data, GROS have extracted data back to 2000 using the new codes.
- Alcohol-related deaths accounted for 1,399 (2.5%) of the 55,986 deaths registered in Scotland in 2007.
- Chart 1 shows that overall the number of deaths with alcohol as the 'underlying cause of death' have risen from 1,292 in 2000 to 1,399 in 2007.
- However, this has not been a consistent trend: the number of deaths has fluctuated over the past five years. The figures increased from 1,292 in 2000 to 1,525 in 2003, before falling to 1,478 in 2004. They then increased again to 1,546 in 2006, before decreasing to 1,399 in 2007.
- The number of alcohol related deaths are higher in older age groups.
- More men than women died of alcohol-related conditions in 2007.Chart 1 shows that, in 2007, 959 (69%) of alcohol-related deaths were of men compared with 440 (31%) which were of women.
- Chart 2 shows that people living in the most deprived quintile were five times more likely to die an alcohol related death than those in the least deprived quintile.
Source: Alcohol Statistics Scotland 2009 (ISD Scotland)
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