Booze kills more men

Two out of every three alcohol-related deaths are male with men accounting entirely for this year's increase.

According to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics, slightly more people in the UK died from alcohol-related deaths in 2010 than in 2009 with the figure rising by 126 to 8,790. However, this increase was exclusively limited to men with the number of deaths rising by 175 to 5,865 in 2010. The number of female alcohol related deaths in women fell over the same period.

In 2010:

Males accounted for 67 per cent of all alcohol-related deaths in the UK
Within England and Wales, alcohol-related death rates were highest in the North of England and Wales in 2010. (Male alcohol-related death rates in the North East were 22.6 per 100,000 population, 21.3 per 100,000 in the North West and 18.9 per 100,000 in Wales.)
Alcohol-related death rates were lowest in the East of England (11.7 per 100,00 population for males)

Almost 1.5% per cent of all deaths in England and Wales in 2010 were alcohol-related. Excessive booze consumption is a major preventable cause of premature death. In 2008 the Department of Health estimated that the damage done by alcohol cost the National Health Service £2.7 billion each year at 2006/07 prices.

The alcohol-related death statistics include deaths from alcohol dependence, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis.

MHF president Dr Ian Banks said: 'The news about alcohol linked deaths in men is especially shocking as alcohol consumption in general has been falling for a few years now. The government's planned alcohol strategy must set out to tackle the death rate in men and they must ensure it succeeds in reducing the death toll.'