Illustrative stock photo (source: SME)
Slovaks do not drink as much alcohol as they used to in the past. Last year’s statistics indicate that alcohol consumption is at its lowest since 2003.
At the same time, the earlier statistics of the World Health Organization (WHO) suggested that alcohol consumption in Slovakia is comparable to other countries in the region, the ČTK newswire reported.
One Slovak consumed 8.2 litres of clear alcohol last year, down from 8.4 litre per capita in 2016. At the beginning of the 1990s, it was more than 10 litres per capita.
Slovaks drink more beer
While the consumption of liquor and wine per inhabitant dropped in Slovakia, beer consumption increased. Every Slovak drank 72 litres of beer on average in 2017, up by 5 percent compared with previous year. As a result, beer consumption in Slovakia achieved a record high level in the modern history of the country, ČTK wrote.
Slovakia has already restricted TV ads for liquor and banned the sale of alcohol to people younger than 18 years of age. However, the share of children who admitted they have tried alcohol has increased, ČTK reported.
At the same time, while alcohol consumption in Slovakia has dropped, the consumption of non-alcoholic beverages per capita increased by 3 percent to about 218 litres last year. People were interested mostly in flavoured drinks, according to ČTK.
