Men drink twice as much as women

Britain’s reputation for drinking may be on the up this week as official figures reveal the worst culprits and overall trends.
According to the Office for National Statistics men drink twice as much as women, exactly 18.7 units a week compared to just 9 units for women.
The report also found that men drink more often than women with one in five men drinking on five out of seven days.
Despite stereotypes about Scotland’s drinking habits, the ONS report says that England and Wales consume larger amounts of alcohol. Figures come in at 13.7 and 13.5 units a week, on average, respectively, compared with 11.6 units in Scotland.
The report on drinking is based on data collated from its 2006 General Household Survey of around 16,500 households across Britain.
An ONS Omnibus survey called Drinking: adults’ behaviour and knowledge in 2007 explores pub-goers’ response to the bans on smoking in public places and involved 2,229 adults aged 16 and above.
This found that four-fifths of drinkers who said they visited pubs said that the ban on smoking in public places would not affect, or had not affected how often went.
The ONS report uses a new assessment method that considers the affect of bigger measures and stronger drinks.
Due to the change of method it is not possible to compare these figures with those of previous years however estimates from the last ten years suggest that the trend in drinking may be decreasing.