Alcohol-related deaths in the UK have hit a record high, with 10,473 people dying in 2023 as a result of heavy drinking, statistics have revealed.
That is an increase on the 10,048 deaths the Office for National Statistics recorded across the four countries of the UK during 2022, the first time more than 10,000 such fatalities had occurred.
Health experts said the figures were heartbreaking and tragic and the result of a surge in problematic consumption that began during the Covid lockdowns in 2020. They urged ministers to do more to tackle drinking-related harm, including bringing in minimum unit pricing (MUP) for alcohol.
“Today’s figures paint a bleak picture of the ongoing harm caused by alcohol across the UK. It is unacceptable that year after year, we continue to see alcohol deaths rise while action from government remains woefully inadequate,” said Prof Sir Ian Gilmore, the chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, a coalition of 60 medical groups, charities and treatment providers.
Ministers should get tough on “cheap, easily accessible alcohol and [the] aggressive marketing that normalises excessive drinking”, he added.
The number of people drinking at hazardous levels – above the UK chief medical officers’ recommendations of 14 units a week – is increasing every year, the charity Alcohol Change UK said. It highlighted multiple health issues caused by alcohol, from headaches and sleeping problems to high blood pressure, anxiety and cancer.
Ash Singleton, the charity’s director of research and public affairs, said the ONS figures did not include the “thousands” more deaths in 2023 that were caused by conditions in which alcohol was a significant factor, including cardiovascular disease, mental illness and cancer.
Explaining its figures, the ONS said: “Alcohol-specific deaths only includes those health conditions where each death is a direct consequence of alcohol – that is, wholly attributable causes such as alcoholic liver disease. It does not include all deaths that can be attributed to alcohol.”
The ONS figures also showed:
Men are more than twice as likely as women to die as a result of excess alcohol consumption, continuing a long-established trend.
Scotland and Northern Ireland had higher rates of alcohol-related deaths than England or Wales.
In England, the north-east had the highest rate of deaths – 25.7 per 100,000 people – and the east of England the lowest rate at 11.5 per 100,000 people.
The ONS data also showed that, although the number of alcohol-related deaths was the highest ever, the rate at which they occurred UK-wide actually fell, from 16.6 per 100,000 people in 2022 to 15.9 per 100,000 in 2023. However, the rate rose last year in both England and Wales to 15 and 17.7 per 100,000 respectively.
Alcohol deaths remain more common in Scotland and Northern Ireland, as they have been for years. Rates there in 2023 were higher – at 22.6 and 18.5 per 100,000 respectively.
Responding to the figures, Dr Katherine Severi, the chief executive of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, said: “We’ve seen record-high deaths from alcohol in the UK every single year since the pandemic. This simply cannot become the new normal, so the government must make tackling alcohol harm a top priority in 2025.
“For the government’s growth and health missions to succeed, we need measures that are proven effective at reducing alcohol harm. Minimum unit pricing for alcohol has reduced alcohol-specific deaths by 13% in Scotland, with the greatest benefits seen among the most disadvantaged communities.”
Among the new policies needed, “MUP for England is the top priority, as it would save the most lives the quickest”, Severi said.
She added: “Alcohol kills people young, depriving thousands of families across the UK of their loved ones far too soon. From an economic perspective this places a strain on our productivity, with 150,000 years of working life lost due to alcohol in 2023 in England alone.”
