Significant increase in alcohol consumption among older age groups

Men over 50 drinking as much as younger men

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Alcohol consumption among the older generation has increased significantly in the present decade. Men aged 50 to 69 are drinking as much as younger men, and older women have narrowed their gap with younger ones.
      The older generation is largely responsible for the increase in total consumption in alcohol in the present decade. Overall alcohol consumption in Finland has increased by about 20 per cent.
      The data is from a study which was made public in the Yhteiskuntapolitiikka, a publication of the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), examining the first results of the drinking habits study of 2008.
     
The study does not reveal the reasons for the increased propensity of older citizens to drink. Special researcher Pia Mäkelä sees it as a question of generational change.
      The previous study on drinking habits was conducted eight years ago. Since then, the 50-69 age group includes members of a “wetter generation”, especially as far as women are concerned. On the other hand, many of those of the “drier generation” are now in the over 69 age group.
      “However, this does not explain everything. In the 1990s those in their 50s and 60s reduced their drinking as they grew older. In the present decade members of the age group are drinking more”, Mäkelä says.
     
According to Mäkelä, drinking by older women increased from an average three times a month to four, and with men, the increase was from six times a month to eight.
      Explanations for the change range from the decline in the price of alcohol to improved personal economic circumstances, which has allowed people to drink whenever they please.
      Cultural changes are also involved. There are generations among those over 50 who have grown accustomed to spending their free time with a glass in front of them.
     
The study found that among younger age groups there has been on increase in the number of times in a month that people drink, or in the total amount of alcohol consumed.
      However, women aged 15 to 29 have started drinking larger amounts at a single sitting than before.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish alcohol consumption tops list of Nordic countries (18.5.2009)
  More teenagers stay sober, but binge drinking more common among those who drink (4.5.2009)
  Statistics Finland: Alcohol kills increasing numbers of working-age Finns (5.12.2008)

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