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Share of adults who have not drunk alcohol in the last year

What you should know about this indicator

Rationale

Aggregate measures such as APC only give population averages. In order to better understand alcohol consumption, we need to combine this information with other information on who drinks and in what pattern. The number of abstainers in the past 12 months provides such information by separating out the drinking from the non-drinking population.

Definition

Abstainers in the past 12 months is defined as the proportion of adults (15+ years) in a given population who have not consumed any alcohol during the past 12 months, assessed at a given point in time. Numerator: The number of abstainers (15+ years) in the past 12 months. Denominator: The total number of participants (15+ years) responding to the corresponding question in a given survey. Weighted by survey design.

Method of measurement

A representative sample of the adult population (15+ years) of the country is asked to answer questions in a survey. The first priority in the decision tree is given to international surveys (in this order of preference: WHS, STEPS, GENACIS, and ECAS); second is national surveys.

Method of estimation

Statistical analyses based on surveys, weighted to be representative for the population.

Share of adults who have not drunk alcohol in the last year
Abstainers in the past 12 months is defined as the proportion of adults (15+ years) in a given population who have not consumed any alcohol during the past 12 months, assessed at a given point in time. Numerator: The number of abstainers (15+ years) in the past 12 months. Denominator: The total number of participants (15+ years) responding to the corresponding question in a given survey. Weighted by survey design.
Source
World Health Organization - Global Health Observatory (2024) – processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
January 3, 2024
Next expected update
January 2025
Date range
2016–2016
Unit
%

Related research and writing

A dark blue background with a lighter blue world map superimposed over it. Yellow text that says Alcohol Consumption by Our World in Data

Alcohol Consumption

Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

The GHO data repository is WHO's gateway to health-related statistics for its 194 Member States. It provides access to over 1000 indicators on priority health topics including mortality and burden of diseases, the Millennium Development Goals (child nutrition, child health, maternal and reproductive health, immunization, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, neglected diseases, water and sanitation), non communicable diseases and risk factors, epidemic-prone diseases, health systems, environmental health, violence and injuries, equity among others.

Retrieved on
January 3, 2024
Retrieved from
https://www.who.int/data/gho
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
World Health Organization. 2024. Global Health Observatory data repository. http://www.who.int/gho/en/. Accessed on 2024-01-03

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Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Share of adults who have not drunk alcohol in the last year”. Our World in Data (2024). Data adapted from World Health Organization. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-have-not-drank-alcohol-in-last-year [online resource]
How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

World Health Organization - Global Health Observatory (2024) – processed by Our World in Data

Full citation

World Health Organization - Global Health Observatory (2024) – processed by Our World in Data. “Share of adults who have not drunk alcohol in the last year” [dataset]. World Health Organization, “Global Health Observatory” [original data]. Retrieved November 21, 2024 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-who-have-not-drank-alcohol-in-last-year